Coroner's inquest into fatal 2015 car crash near Killarney begins in Sudbury

A coroner's inquest into the death of an Elliot Lake man who was killed in a car crash in 2015 is underway in Sudbury this week.

Walter Blight, 72, died when his vehicle collided with a transport on Highway 69 near Killarneythat July.

According to OPP Constable James Walback, who testified on Monday, there had been attempts by both police and family to suspend Blight's license due to health concerns.

Blight's son testified that he had personally tried to stop his father from driving, but said that Blight was "stubborn."

Police pulled the elder Blight over the day of the crash, but despite concerns about his fitness to drive, they could not legally stop him.

MTOsent letter seven weeks after Blight's death

In Ontario, only the Ministry of Transportation has the power to revoke a driver's license for medical reasons.

Walback testified that a doctor at Elliot Lake hospital said he would write a letter to the MTO to have Blight's license revoked, after the man was pulledover for driving erratically a few days prior to the crash.

The inquest heard that the MTO sent a letter to Blight seven weeks after his death, to request medical documents regarding his fitness to drive.

There are ten witnesses scheduled to testify. A five person jury is expected to make recommendations so that similar incidents can be prevented in the future.

"I can tell you historically that inquest recommendations have more often than not turned into legislative changes, policy changes, operational changes because we deal with important issues here," Prabhu Rajan, the coroner's counsel, said.

He added that the governing body that receives the jury's recommendations has six months to respond.