A 78-year-old man who died after losing control of his electric wheelchair while going home from his local pub had waited 45 minutes for an accessible taxi.
Retired fisherman Robert William East was making the two-kilometre journey from a tavern in northern Hobart on March 16, 2022 when he veered off a gravel path.
He was placed into palliative care after suffering head injuries and died a few days later.
In findings published on Monday, coroner Olivia McTaggart said Mr East would not have died if a wheelchair-accessible taxi arrived to collect him during his 45-minute wait.
Ms McTaggart described the wait as "lengthy", noting there appeared to be limited incentives for qualified drivers to provide wheelchair-accessible taxi services.
A tavern staff member called a taxi for Mr East at 8pm and was told there was a one-hour-to-90-minute wait.
She tried a second service to find a shorter wait time but was unsuccessful. Mr East described the estimated wait as "common" for a Wednesday night.
Ms McTaggart said Tasmania's department of state growth and the Tasmanian Taxi Council reported "some unwillingness" from qualified wheelchair-accessible taxi drivers to undertake the work because of inadequate remuneration.
The department said it was working on potential reforms to provide greater incentives to the taxi industry to increase the availability of wheelchair-access vehicles, she said.
" ... appropriate initiatives may go some way to increasing the availability of wheelchair-accessible taxis and thus preventing similar circumstances to those that led to Mr East embarking upon a risky journey in his own wheelchair," Ms McTaggart said.
Mr East, who had five children and was an avid footballer in his youth, had his legs amputated below the knees because of poor circulation caused by diabetes.
Ms McTaggart said it was possible the path's camber, lack of lighting, excessive speed and Mr East's mild intoxication may have contributed to the mishap.
Transport Minister Michael Ferguson said the government wanted to see a higher level of wheelchair-accessible taxis and numbers were heading in the right direction.
He said entry fees for transport companies wanting to operate such taxis was lower than regular taxis.
He also said the government had re-written the taxi funding model to provide incentives.
