A young man, with a history of drug abuse, but who was actively seeking to get his life back on track, died in a fatal road traffic collision on the A49, between Ross-on-Wye and Hereford, an inquest heard on Wednesday, November 23rd.

36-year-old Joseph Mayers died in the fatal crash on November 19th, 2015, when his car swerved onto the wrong side of the road, and then back, confusing an oncoming lorry driver, who could not avoid the collision.

Mike Saunders, the police vehicle examiner, had inspected both the Renault Clio and lorry after the collision. He said that the Renault was well maintained, and there was no evidence to suggest that there was a mechanical or structural failure, in either vehicle.

PC Murphy assessed the scene after the collision. He was unable to find anything to explain why the driver of the Renault had swerved onto the other carriageway.

After the collision, the post-mortem, performed by Dr Marnerides, showed that Mr Mayers had received numerous injuries, including severe head injuries, and these were “completely unsurvivable.”

A toxicology analysis of Mr Mayers’ blood and urine showed a presence of a cocktail of drugs. The inquest heard that Mr Mayers had a history of drug abuse, but had been clean for four years. He had suffered a relapse and was seeking help from his local GP at Much Birch Surgery. He had also been seeking support from Addaction, a drug and alcohol treatment charity.

County Coroner, Mark Bricknell told the inquest?that the amount of drugs in his system, as shown in the toxicology report, could have been significant. He said:?“On the balance of probability, it likely caused him to drive erratically.”

He said that Mr Mayers had shown he had done his best to deal with his drug habit. He said: “He died from multi-traumatic injuries, and severe head injuries. It is noted that he was a multi-drug user and this multi-drug use could have played a part.”

He added that he did not believe Mr Mayers intended to take his own life, and the coroner’s verdict was that Joseph Mayers died as a consequence of the road traffic collision.

Read a fuller account of the inquest in this week’s Ross Gazette