KEY POINTS:
The family of an unsupervised trainee driver who plunged to his death in an Army truck with two other soldiers are concerned changes the Army has made will be only "cosmetic".
The Army has accepted it should have had an instructor in the Unimog truck with the three
soldiers who were killed when it crashed off a tricky Otago road in February 2005
Queenstown coroner Alan Macalister, in his findings on the crash released yesterday, said the driver, Private David Partington, 17, had only nine or 10 hours' driving time in the Unimog.
Private Shane Ohlen, 21, and Private Ashley Goodwin, 19, of Motueka, were also in the vehicle when it plunged more than 70m off State Highway 6 and into the Kawarau River near Queenstown.
Because of his inexperience, Private Partington may have thought the road was narrower than it was before driving into a barrier and off the side, Mr Macalister said.
"The weight of evidence establishes that it was not appropriate for someone of his age and experience to be driving a Unimog unsupervised."
Neale Partington, Private Partington's father, told the Herald the coroner had got it right, and the onus was now on the Army.
"None of [the three soldiers] had much experience in a truck on any road," he said.
"That's why all three of them were on that course - to get familiar with it. They really did need more supervision than they got.
"I'm hoping the Army doesn't just make cosmetic changes and just carries on and slips back into the old pattern when there are no further accidents."
The Army has introduced a one-to-one ratio of students to instructors in Unimog driver training and will now have radios in all of the vehicles.
Chief of Army Major General Lou Gardiner said several other changes had been made as a result of a review, but he emphasised that before the accident there had been no deaths in Unimog training for 14 years.
Despite the three fatalities and others in Unimogs since, the Army still has faith in the fleet, due to be replaced in four years.
"We are confident it is a safe vehicle," General Gardiner said. "Like any vehicle designed to go cross-country, it does have a higher centre of gravity".
Crash investigator Todd McCormack said the Unimog's higher centre of gravity made it more prone to rollover and because the driver was seated so high there was a larger-than-normal "blind spot", which required greater driver judgment.
Private Goodwin's father, Alan, said his family did not hold anyone at fault for the death of their son.
"If any of the three boys were incapable of driving that vehicle, they wouldn't have been there.
"It is very easy to find fault in something when something goes wrong. It is not going to bring our sons back to us."
