The inexperience of a Hawke's Bay truck driver on a notorious downhill stretch of a South Island highway, while affected by cannabis, was the likely cause of his death a coroner has found.
Piki Lewis Jones, 34, of Napier died while driving from Christchurch to the West Coast, in the pre-dawn crash, descending the Otira Viaduct. He plummeted 24 metres into a riverbed from a viaduct bend about 6am on June 22, 2011.
An inquest was held in Christchurch on May 19-22, and evidence was given that his truck and trailer crossed the centre line, struck a rock face, crossed back into the correct lane, glanced the rear of another truck also heading downhill, and then crashed through a barrier on the outside of a right-hand bend.
Some evidence given suggested Mr Jones was an inexperienced driver, and was possibly on his first east-west crossing on the highway, and was on his own.
However, an experienced South Island driver said Mr Jones was accompanied by another more experienced, driver several times as he learned the vagaries of the transalpine link.