A visually-impaired driver who hit and killed a cyclist on a country highway in South Australia had been granted an unconditional driver's licence, despite not meeting the minimum vision test requirements and almost hitting parked cars during a driving test, a coronial inquest has heard.
Robert Lloyd Hall, 66, was wearing a high-vis vest while riding his mountain bike on the side of the Horrocks Highway near Quorn on a clear day in May 2018, when a 4WD struck him from behind.
The driver, John Charles Robertson, from Wilmington in the state's north, had suffered a stroke in 2014, during brain surgery that resulted in permanent loss of peripheral vision on his left-hand side — a condition known as "absolute left homonymous hemianopia".
The court heard Mr Robertson had seen the cyclist from "some way off", but then did not see him prior to the impact.
Mr Robertson was convicted of an aggravated charge of causing death by dangerous driving and was sentenced to four years jail with a non-parole period of three years and two months, which he was allowed to serve on home detention.
In his sentencing remarks, District Court Judge Simon Stretton said Mr Robertson should never have been given his licence back.
"Someone who has no sight whatsoever to their left is an obvious and palpable danger to other road users and pedestrians particularly where, as here, the driving is likely to include some substantial distances at high speeds on country roads," Judge Stretton said in 2021.
"Having heard all the evidence in this case and, indeed, all the medical evidence, in this court's considered view you should never have been given your licence back and you should never have driven on a public road."
The Coroners Court heard that after his stroke, Mr Robertson's licence was cancelled for medical reasons, but after consulting doctors and undergoing tests he was granted a conditional licence the following year, with conditions not to drive at night or to tow, before later succeeding in having those conditions removed completely.
The court heard Mr Robertson had to physically move his head to the left while driving to make up for a complete lack of peripheral vision, and had been criticised by driving assessors as going too fast through intersections, without allowing enough time to scan to the left.
"Your ability to drive safely was entirely dependent and entirely predicated on you constantly scanning to the left to compensate for your complete lack of eyesight to the left," Judge Stretton said in his sentencing remarks.
The Coroners Court heard only a "small portion" of people with the visual impairment condition would present an "acceptable risk to the community".
Opening the inquest into Mr Hall's death, counsel assisting the court, Peter Longson, said one of the critical questions was how people with those types of vision impairments were assessed as fit to drive.
"The question is, principally for the licensing authority, is how to identify those people, perhaps more importantly how to identify the people who pose an unacceptable risk, who should not be granted a licence," Mr Longson told the court.
"And hand in hand with that, is the question of identifying the point at which the risk changes from acceptable to unacceptable, what amounts to acceptable and unacceptable," Coroner David Whittle said.
Mr Longson told the court that Mr Robertson's vision range did not meet the minimum regulatory requirements for a full, unconditional driver's licence.
However, despite that, he was granted an unconditional licence in 2016.
The court heard the driving test that led to the conditions being removed was carried out as a regular driving test without any reference to Mr Robertson's vision defect.
Driver 'dismissive' of visual impairment, court hears
The inquest heard Mr Robertson was "dismissive" of his vision impairment and told his doctors he was driving "safely and competently".
The court heard that on one occasion during a driving test, the instructor had to take the steering wheel to avoid a possible collision with parked cars on Mr Robertson's left.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Stretton said that "the fact doctors gave you back your licence when they plainly should not have done so may have given you a false sense of confidence in your ability to drive".
Mr Longson told the Coroners Court that a person's ability to recognise the impact of their impairment and take steps to compensate for it was critical to community safety.
"It is of not insignificant importance that a person who suffers from the condition that Mr Robertson did, understands exactly what that means, that they accept that they have it and they accept that they need to compensate for it," Mr Longson told the court.
"That cannot be understated in ameliorating the risk to the community of people with this condition."
The court heard Mr Robertson used a small amount of cannabis daily to manage pain.
The Coroner noted that would mean he was driving illegally, with cannabis in his system, whenever he was on the road.
"Does that mean that Mr Robertson would have been expected to fail a drug test at any time at which he chose to drive?" the Coroner asked.
"Almost certainly," Mr Longson replied.
"And if it was detected, you'd lose your licence and receive a substantial fine and be noted in the records of both the police and the department as a drug driver," the Coroner said.
The Coroner noted that the sentencing court found that the low level of cannabis in Mr Robertson's system was "unlikely to have significantly affected" his driving, but was part of the charge because the law regarded it as an aggravating factor.
'No-one else should go through this'
Outside court, Mr Hall's wife and daughters fought back tears as they said they wanted the inquest to prompt important changes to ensure no-one else lost their life for the same reasons.
"There's a whole bunch of people behind the scenes that need to be accountable for giving him his licence back," daughter Megan Napier said.
"If anything is learnt from this, if you have any kind if instinct at all that you shouldn't be driving, don't drive. Drugs, alcohol, visual, any impairment that you can't drive, do not get behind the wheel of a car."
Mr Hall's widow, Helen Hall, said she wanted to "save someone else from going through all of this".
"We want something positive to come from Dad's death," Mr Hall's daughter Rebecca said.
"If someone, somewhere goes, 'Well I've just got a few questions about this person driving' who's got the authority to give them back their licence, don't do it," Ms Napier said.
"And if someone else's life is saved, it's all not in vain, Dad's helped."
Ms Napier described her father as an "amazing man".
"My Dad was self-sacrificing, he was a pillar of the community he did 27 years of St Johns volunteer, he's a well-known man in Quorn, he was an amazing Dad, he was an amazing husband, he was an amazing Pop and our kids miss him every day," she said.
"He's very much missed not just by us, but the community of Quorn."
