Suicide and murder-suicide involving automobiles

Choice of method

The method of suicide chosen depends on which are available and culturally accepted. ⁴ In the city-state of Singapore, where skyscrapers abound, suicide by jumping from a height is common. Other choices include gunshot in USA, herbicide ingestion in Fiji and self-immolation in Iran.

Motor vehicles are widely available. It is difficult to prove suicide by motor vehicle because of the difficulty of proving intention. Suicide is stigmatizing and families may be socially damaged by such events. Insurance arrangements may be negated by suicide, leaving families financially damaged. With vehicles available, driver suicide may be chosen for the sake of family and friends.

The size of the problem

Estimates of driver suicide vary from 1.1% to 7.4% of traffic fatalities; ⁵ however, under-reporting is likely. They represent around 1% of all suicides. ³ One study estimated that 11.3% of driver suicides are associated with the death of other people, ³ but there has been no assessment of the broader losses.

A Queensland study found that between 1990 and 2007 there were 52 confirmed and 29 possible cases of driver suicide. ⁶ Another Queensland study examined people with a history of suicidal ideation and behaviour. ⁷ Of those who reported planning suicide, 14.8% had considered a motor vehicle ‘accident’, and of attempters, 8.3% had attempted a motor vehicle collision.

Suicide drivers

Suicide drivers who target other vehicles are similar to suicide completers who use other methods. They are more likely to be male, to have taken alcohol and experienced adverse life events. ⁶

Those who plan suicide by motor vehicle are more likely to be in full-time employment and have a partner and children than those who plan other methods. ⁷

Examples

1. In 2009, Tasmania, JA, a 25-year-old student drove his car into a truck travelling in the opposite direction. He had a history of mental disorder, and prior to setting off on his final journey he wrote: “I’ve stopped functioning again and have taken the option of ending my life rather than going to the psych ward again…” ⁸

The truck collided with a third vehicle. A container fell from the truck onto the third vehicle, killing the occupants, a 32-year-old man (Mr. G) and his 3-year-old son.

The truck driver was not physically injured, but assessed 9 months later, was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, and had been unable to return to work.

The Coroner stated: “It is also clear that JA’s death arose because he intentionally drove his vehicle into the path of the prime mover with the expressed purpose of causing himself fatal injuries. His appalling and self-serving decision brought about a sequence of calamitous events which resulted in the tragic deaths of Mr. G and his son…” ⁸ , and: “JA had previously sought medical intervention for his mental illness. Regrettably, on this occasion he made the reprehensible and conscious decision to circumvent all assistance.” ⁸

2. In 2010, Tasmania, a truck was travelling on a highway when an oncoming car crossed into its path. (The details of this case come from the unpublished files of Dr Sale, Forensic Psychiatrist.) The truck driver (42 years of age) moved to the side of the road, but the other vehicle maintained a collision course. The truck rolled and was wrecked. The driver suffered knee and facial injuries.

The car crashed and the driver survived. She had recently been discharged from a psychiatric facility. She admitted behaving with suicidal intentions, and was charged with dangerous driving.

The truck driver resumed driving, but several months later he reported severe symptoms. He had lost weight and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Treatment was ineffective.

3. In 2010, California, a 40-year-old male bearing an apologizing suicide note drove a light vehicle into the path of a semi-trailer. The targeted vehicle overturned and collided with a third vehicle. The suicide driver died, the male 40-year-old semi-trailer driver sustained minor injuries, and the third vehicle driver, a 53-year-old female, sustained major injuries and was hospitalized. All three vehicles were extensively damaged. ⁹

4. In 2013, Devon, a 36-year-old male broke up with his wife and wrote a suicide note. He accelerated, pulled to the other side of the road and smashed into an oncoming car. The targeted car carried an Irish family on holidays. The suicide driver was killed. In the targeted car a man and his son were killed; the wife survived, but lost her unborn child. ¹⁰

5. In 2014, California, a 29-year-old female argued with her partner and next morning drove away from their residence. She had a history of a suicide attempt. Her mother telephoned police, saying she was concerned for her daughter. The 29-year-old drove the wrong way up an off-ramp and collided head-on with a truck. The suicide driver was killed, as was the single occupant of the targeted vehicle – a married, 49-year-old father of two. The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office lists the female’s death as suicide. ¹¹

6. In 2014, Melbourne, Victoria, a 36-year-old male murdered his estranged wife in her bedroom. He drove away in his car and into the path of a truck driven by a 50-year-old father of four. The suicide driver died, the truck rolled and was destroyed, and the truck driver was injured and admitted to hospital. ¹²

7. In September 2014, in Tasmania, the Deputy Mayor of Launceston was killed when he drove his car into a head-on collision with a truck. The Coroner has chosen to hold an inquest, because of the ‘high profile’ of the death. The counsel assisting the coroner stated that the issues to be examined would be the impact on the driver of the truck and the health and wellbeing of the deceased. ¹³ Proceedings have not yet commenced.

Suicide drivers’ ability to consider consequences

There is a view that a suicide driver does not recognize responsibility for the consequences of the event. A statement supporting this view was given by a psychiatrist heard as an expert witness in the Supreme Court of Victoria. ¹⁴ It was stated that a suicide driver would have no thought for the consequences to other vehicles or their occupants. This expert stated that the suicide driver would be preoccupied with placing himself in a position to make sure that death was achieved.

There is evidence, however, that some suicidal individuals are able to act with consideration for others. Individuals seek (via the web) methods which are painless and effective, but also which will cause minimal distress for those who discover the corpse. The desire to protect friends and family, at least in part, is driving the growing popularity of charcoal burning and helium gas inhalation suicide. Not uncommonly, individuals telephone authorities stating they are about to commit suicide. In some instances, this is primarily communication and suicide might be prevented. In others, authorities find a corpse, and unprepared civilians are spared distress. Not uncommonly, before they take destructive action, some people place signs on doors and windows advising others not to enter, but to call authorities. In a recent case, a San Francisco man chose ‘Suicide by Cop’ – threatening police with a (toy) gun and being shot dead. ¹⁵ He had left a comforting letter for the police: “Dear officers. You did nothing wrong. You ended the life of a man who was too much of a coward to do it himself. Please, don’t blame yourself, I used you…”

Discussion and conclusion

For a killing to be classed as murder there must be not only the act of killing, but also the intention to kill. The intentions of pilots and drivers when they kill themselves and others are unknown. However, the term murder-suicide is used in connection with plane crash deaths,^1,16 and is used here for consistency.

While quantitative data remain limited, the existence of driver suicide and tragic consequences for the occupants of targeted vehicles cannot be doubted. This paper draws attention to cases from the lay press which deserve to be included in scientific thinking.

The view is expressed that suicide drivers are preoccupied and cannot consider the consequences of their actions on others. However, choices can be made – to use a car is to choose a method and, as listed above, many suicide completers demonstrate great concern for the consequences of their actions.

Colliding with a moving vehicle, rather than a fixed object, increases the energy applied to the task of self-killing. Nevertheless, single-vehicle crashes frequently kill and it is not essential to involve another vehicle.

Suicide drivers are likely to cause loss of property, and injury (physical and/or psychological) or death to a proportion of the occupants of targeted vehicles. It is evident that some people in the process of killing themselves are able to act with great consideration for the consequences of their actions, and public discussion of these consequences for other road users may reduce the overall losses.