A German tourist whose negligent driving in a hired motorhome killed a Tasmanian grandfather in a head-on collision won't serve any jail time.
Friedrich Kurt Burkhardt, 69, was on Tuesday handed a three-month suspended prison sentence over the crash on January 27, 2020.
He was travelling on the Huon Highway, south of Hobart, when he veered for three seconds into an oncoming lane on part of the road where both drivers' vision was obscured.
Michael John Clark, 59, was travelling in the opposite direction.
Magistrate Reg Marron ruled Burkhardt failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to keep left of dividing lines and didn't drive with reasonable consideration for other road users.
"As a visiting driver you had a responsibility and duty of care to all those using roads in Tasmania," Mr Marron told Hobart Magistrates Court.
"I am unaware of what, if any, orientations you were provided with when you hired the motorhome but I would be fairly certain it would have included warnings ... that in Australia drivers drive on the left-hand side of the road."
Mr Clark's daughter Emma Clark told the court she had lost her best friend and idol, and was forced to put her own grief aside to support her late mother.
"Mum gave up on herself and everything around her. She was heartbroken. She would often have a shower and then put on one of dad's shirts," Ms Clark said.
Ms Clark said a change of plans by "sheer luck" meant her daughter wasn't in the car with Mr Clark at the time of the crash.
"I would trade places with dad in a heartbeat just so (she) could have her poppy back," she said.
Ms Clark said more than 500 people attended her father's funeral and he was a well-respected member of the Dover community.
"I still to this day call dad's voicemail just so I can hear his voice," she said.
Mr Marron said Burkhardt, who appeared on video link from Germany and listened via an interpreter, had expressed deep regret and had asked Mr Clark's family for forgiveness.
"You say you are horrified by the ... images in your head and you have sympathy with the close relatives and family," Mr Marron said.
Burkhardt was found guilty of causing death by negligent driving after the case went to hearing.
Mr Marron noted Burkhardt had no prior criminal convictions and had driven more than one million kilometres in his lifetime and only encountered two minor accidents.
Excessive speed, weather, drugs and alcohol or distractions did not play a part in the crash.
Burkhardt was also disqualified from driving in Tasmania for 12 months and fined $1200.
