A truck driver may have been working for more than 14 hours before he probably briefly nodded off at the wheel on the Napier-Taihape road and plunged into the Rangitikei River, a coroner has found.
Richard Toneycliffe, 47, of Taihape, died in May last year after suffering multiple injuries from the crash, Coroner Tim Scott said in a finding released yesterday.
Mr Toneycliffe had started work in Taihape at 7.30am on May 14 before taking a round trip to Hawkes Bay, via Halcombe, northwest of Feilding.
To comply with legal driving hours, Mr Toneycliffe needed to have returned to Taihape by 9.30pm, Mr Scott said.
"This would be his maximum 14 hours from commencing work to finishing work that day. He was then required to take a 10-hour break before commencing work again," he said. It was not known what breaks Mr Toneycliffe took because his logbook was lost in the crash.
