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Blenheim Coroner Peter Radich has urged the army to review driver training and vehicle maintenance following a fatal Unimog crash in Marlborough last year.
Concluding an inquest into the death of soldier Meredith Jonathan Simms, 18, who died when the Unimog he was travelling in rolled near the Weld Pass on August 16, 2006, Mr Radich said "undoubtedly" lessons had been learnt from the crash.
Mr Radich said after a succession of serious accidents involving Unimog vehicles operated by the New Zealand Defence Force he doubted his comments would "be new or surprising" to the army, the police or the families of Private Simms and Private Khan Glenn Hogg, 19, the vehicle's driver who suffered spinal injuries in the crash which have left him disabled.
"It seems to me that the training programme for young army drivers needs to be reviewed," he said. "The achievement of driving skills is progressive and it takes time."
Private Hogg was in sole charge of a Unimog that was probably laden to a greater extent than he'd previously experienced and Mr Radich noted that the "open road of State Highway 1 is not an ideal place for driver training in weight carrying".
The inquest recorded that Pte Hogg and Pte Simms had taken part in an army exercise in the Nelson/Marlborough region and were returning to their Burnham base, south of Christchurch, with Unimogs that were laden with "dummy loads" to give their crews experience in driving vehicles at close to the maximum carrying capacity.
Pte Hogg's vehicle was loaded with some 3400kg of ammunition boxes and tyres, taking it close to, but not over its maximum weight of 5 tonnes. Pte Simms was the front-seat passenger.
Pte Hogg lost control of the vehicle as it negotiated Dazzle Corner over the crest of Weld Pass. It rolled over a low safety fence to the bottom of a ravine where it landed "wheels down, but substantially destroyed".
Pte Hogg and Pte Simms were thrown from the Unimog as it rolled, with Pte Simms suffering fatal head injuries
Mr Radich noted there was "considerable uncertainty" about the actual weight the Unimog was carrying.
He urged the army to put "better systems of weight assessment and load management" in place during training exercises.
He also suggested the army review its standards and procedures for vehicle maintenance.
While evidence had been given at the inquest that the Unimog had a problem with the rear brakes giving a low braking reading, a road transport expert said it was unlikely to have been a contributing factor.
However, Mr Radich said in the case of Unimog vehicles intended for use in difficult terrain he would have thought "the braking standard looked for would be something more than the legal minimum and would never be allowed to descend below the legal minimum".
"I remain conscious, however, that army personnel need to have the capacity to operate in suboptimal and difficult conditions," he said.
"The responsibility of the New Zealand Army must, however, be to ensure that the training for the suboptimal conditions is the best training reasonably possible and that the equipment to be used by army personnel is the best reasonably available," Mr Radich said.
He recorded formally that Pte Simms died of blunt head trauma as a result of the crash on August 16 2006.
Joint Forces New Zealand land component commander Brigadier Rhys Jones said today the army had learnt from the tragedy.
He said the coroner had identified a "confluence of small factors" which, when combined, had caused the crash.
"The army is responsible for addressing three of those factors and accepts the coroner's recommendations on those matters," Brig Jones said.
Pte Hogg had held a Class 2 licence and had more than 170 hours' driving experience in an Unimog before the fatal crash.
Brig Jones said although Pte Hogg graduated from the army's driving programme 11 months before the crash and was not on a specific driver training exercise, the coroner had suggested the driver training programme be reviewed.
A review was done in 2005 and "significant changes" made.
Brig Jones said all dummy loads within the army were now weighed and recorded so drivers knew exactly what they were carrying at any time.
As a result of the Weld Pass crash, an army-wide audit of all Unimogs was done to check the condition of brake valves.
The minimum braking capacity set out in the army maintenance schedule was now 60 per cent - above the 50 per cent legal minimum identified by the coroner.
Testing equipment had been bought so brake tests could be done on all vehicle before exercises.
Brig Jones said he could "assure the coroner and the wider public" that the army sought and achieved the best training and equipment available for its soldiers.
"This tragic accident has given us lessons to learn, and we have addressed those," he said.
- NZPA
