A coroner has found a drug-affected teenager on a stolen motorbike caused a crash that killed him and his pillion passenger in Launceston last year.
Ethan Charles Rushton, 17, and Christopher Peter Kearnes, 34, died after their Kawasaki bike crashed head-on with a ute at Mowbray about 8:00pm on January 2.
Witnesses saw the motorbike reach speeds of up to 130 kilometres per hour before it veered into the path of the ute on the East Tamar Highway.
Coroner Duncan Fairley said the bike had recently been stolen and it was not known how it came into the possession of Mr Rushton and Mr Kearnes.
Both men died from multiple injuries; Mr Rushton at the scene and Mr Kearnes later in the Launceston General Hospital.
The men were each wearing Australian Standards approved motorcycle helmets.
Mr Fairley found both men had cannabis in their systems and Mr Rushton had also consumed methamphetamine before the crash.
The motorcycle was first seen travelling in excess of 100kph on a residential street where the limit was 50kph.
Speeding bike avoids pedestrians
It was next observed travelling at speed along a walking track on top of the levee bank next to the East Tamar Highway.
As the motorcycle neared the northern end of the track, Mr Rushton and Mr Kearnes were confronted by two pedestrians pushing an infant in a stroller
The coroner said the pair left the walkway and while travelling at up to 130kph, rode across a grassed area onto the highway and into the path of an oncoming ute.
Mr Fairley said there was a catastrophic collision that the driver of the car could not avoid.
The driver was not injured and police investigations established he had had not consumed alcohol or any illicit substances, and not used his mobile phone immediately prior to the incident.
Mr Fairley found Mr Rushton's actions were the sole cause of the crash and the ingestion of illicit substances played a role in the incident.
Earlier this week in a separate case, Hobart coroner Olivia McTaggart noted that motorcyclists were vulnerable to serious injury and death when driving at excess speed.
State Government figures show motorcycle riders continue to be over-represented in Tasmanian road crashes.
Eleven motorcyclists were killed and a further 74 seriously injured in 2017.
That compared with 10 fatalities and 84 serious injuries in 2016.
