A coroner has found that a 32-year-old woman with a blood alcohol level of 0.21 – more than four times the legal limit – caused a crash that killed herself and four young people on their way home after a night out in Geelong.
Coroner Ann McGarvie said on Wednesday that mother of two Sarah Dale (nee Houlihan) was driving a BMW at 160km/h on the wrong side of the Princes Freeway when she crashed almost head-on with a Subaru sedan carrying six people at 1.08am on December 8, 2012, near Lara.
Casey Ann Valetic, 24, the front passenger in the Subaru, and Nathan Grant Kerr, 23, Melissa Patricia Parry, 23 and Bradley Anthony Dickson, 23, who had been sitting in the back seat, died in the crash.
No one in the back seat had been wearing seatbelts.
The Subaru driver Scott Early and rear seat passenger Nick Arbuthnot were the only ones to survive.
Ms Valetic was a young mother from Hoppers Crossing while her best friend, Melissa Parry, Nathan Kerr and Brad Dickson were all from Werribee. They had had a few drinks on the Friday night before deciding to drive to Geelong for a kebab. Mr Early, was later found to have had a blood alcohol level of 0.025, well under the limit.
The coroner said Ms Dale, 32, had been drinking at her boyfriend’s home on Friday night, December 7, when she began texting her friend, James, who lived in Queenscliff.
Ms Dale’s boyfriend went to bed at 10.30pm and she continued to text James but he had his phone on silent and did not see the messages until the next morning.
In her finding handed down in Geelong, Ms McGarvie outlined some of the text messages sent by Ms Dale to James which included: 11pm: Cppppas out bad. 11.03pm: I’m diu. 11.03pm. Ooops. 11.04pm: Drunk. 12.19am: That I’m driving sax I’m odd off my favs ok?.
Ms McGarvie said a witness, John Heron, was a passenger in car a driving towards Werribee when he saw a car driving on the wrong side of the road and called triple-0 at 12.48am.
The coroner said Ms Dale sent more text messages as she was driving, between 12.49am and 12.57am, which included: 12.49am: opppps $180 on 570zigddx (to her boyfriend) 12.51am: I’m. Crying b I’m coming wtt (to her friend, James) 12.57am: U better be there I’m On my way! (to James) 12.57am: I don’t give a hang (to James).
Ms Dale’s last text message to James, at 1.02am, said: Im coming. Ms McGarvie said the fatal crash had been an “isolated incident” involving an extremely intoxicated woman who knew she was drunk but yet chose to drive.
“In addition, she was speeding excessively, texting and driving on the wrong side of the freeway at night … The crash that killed her and four passengers in the Subaru occurred within approximately 8-10 minutes of her entering the freeway.”
The coroner said Ms Dale had been seeing a psychologist since 2010 for a major depressive disorder, alcohol abuse and an anxiety disorder, and was taking antidepressant medication.
But Ms McGarvie said Ms Dale’s psychologist did not believe she was suicidal, homicidal or a significant risk to others, and considered her love for her children was a “strong protective factor”.
The coroner said the police brief of evidence did not “highlight any issues regarding road signage, road design, emergency services or police operational response, or any systemic issues that could be addressed to prevent an accident like this recurring”.
This story first appeared in The Age
