'Stupid’ death preventable

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 4

'Stupid’ death preventable

PA r * Auckland The Auckland Coroner, Mr Stephen Osborne, said the death of a man who was thrown from his car, which he drove while drunk, was “tragic, stupid and eminently preventable."

Ronald Arthur Williams, aged 39, of Red Beach, died of multiple injuries when his BMW car swerved and rolled over on State Highway 1 near Dairy Flat, the Coroner found in the North Shore District Coroner’s Court The accident occurred at 11 p.m. on December 15. Mr Williams had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood at the time, according to a D.S.I.R. test.

The driver of a southbound vehicle who saw Mr Williams’ car just before it left the road told the police the car was being driven In an “erratic manner and snaking across the road,” Sergeant Paul Major, of the Takapuna police, told . the Court The witness said‘she had expected Mr Williams’ car and her own to collide head-on, but Mr Williams’ vehicle had swerved across the road and rolled over’before coming over the brdw of a hill. .

Mr Williams* body was found about 400 metres from the car, Sergeant Major said. The Coroner said Mr Williams was the author of his own misfortune.