{"id":163290,"date":"2025-12-01T21:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/163290\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T21:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:31:12","slug":"night-shift-worker-died-in-school-bus-crash-driving-home-coroner-warns-of-fatigue-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/163290\/","title":{"rendered":"Night shift worker died in school bus crash driving home, coroner warns of fatigue"},"content":{"rendered":"

As he drove home about 7.30am the next day, Te Whare crossed the centre line of the road and hit a school bus travelling in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

Te Whare died at the scene, while the bus driver suffered minor injuries.<\/p>\n

None of the students on board the bus were injured.<\/p>\n

An autopsy showed Te Whare suffered a severe head injury, a ruptured aorta and lacerated lungs.<\/p>\n

Coroner Rachael Schmidt-McCleave found his death could have been prevented had he not been driving in a likely fatigued state.<\/p>\n

Te Whare had been putting in a large amount of overtime at work in the weeks before his death.<\/p>\n

Coroner Schmidt-McCleave made several recommendations after his death.<\/p>\n

She wanted the public to take heed of advice from the NZTA<\/a> around driving with fatigue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NZTA advises that fatigue does not just mean falling asleep at the wheel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is an extreme form of fatigue. Fatigue can also mean tiredness<\/a>, weariness or exhaustion and a driver can be fatigued enough for it to impair driving long before the driver \u2018nods off\u2019 at the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being tired at the wheel could cause a driver to drift in and out of sleep without knowing it, called microsleep, the coroner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese naps can last between three and five seconds and are the main cause of fatigue-related crashes where the driver runs off the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coroner Schmidt-McCleave said lifestyle changes should be considered to make sure drivers get enough sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeasures such as drinking caffeine, getting out of the vehicle to stretch legs, opening the window or turning up the radio volume do not work and will refresh a driver only for a short while,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce fatigue has set in, no amount of willpower will keep a driver awake. The only answer is sleep and the driver should stop for a short nap or seek assistance to get home.\u201d<\/p>\n

NZTA said drivers should prepare properly before driving, and plan where to take a safe break, Schmidt-McCleave said.<\/p>\n

A short nap of no more than 15 to 30 minutes could also help, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot being tempted to keep driving when tired just because a destination is close.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany tiredness-related collisions occur close to home because the driver has relaxed, and the body takes this as a signal that it is okay to fall asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coroner noted shift workers were a recognised category of drivers more likely to suffer from driver fatigue, because they were more likely to have their sleep patterns disrupted.<\/p>\n

NZTA\u2019s warning signs for fatigue<\/p>\n

Beginning to blinkNot being able to stop yawningHaving trouble keeping head upEyes closing for a moment or going out of focusHaving wandering, disconnected thoughtsNot remembering driving the last few kilometresMissing a gearMissing a road sign or exitSlowing unintentionallyBraking too lateDrifting over the centre line or on to the other side of the road<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As he drove home about 7.30am the next day, Te Whare crossed the centre line of the road…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[27129,30482,12629,3549,6179,4189,3553,38268,42,1345,78,43,2551,1118,4062,5258,40,38,41,39,8218,12767],"class_list":["post-163290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-blackwell","tag-bus","tag-coroner","tag-crash","tag-died","tag-driving","tag-fatigue","tag-finn","tag-headlines","tag-home","tag-in","tag-news","tag-night","tag-of","tag-school","tag-shift","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-warns","tag-worker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}