Mr Barnes also said future police pursuits should be restricted to save lives.

But he said Sgt Eaton should not (not) be charged with dangerous driving causing death.

Mr Hill's widow Camilla said the decision not to lay charges against police was a shock.

"Guys who work in traffic branch and wear a uniform, they can pretty much get away with murder," she said in Cairns.

"I'm angry they haven't charged the officers because a civilian would have been locked up that night and charged with dangerous driving causing death straight away."

Mrs Hill said if a third passenger in the bull catcher, Will Fowler, had not survived there would definitely have been a cover-up.

Mr Barnes found Sgt Eaton was wrong to have pursued the stockmen's vehicle in fading light on a bush track he did not know at speeds of up to 80km/h.

Mr Hill, 33, and Mr Toohey, 49, died on April 24 last year when the pursuing police's 4WD vehicle hurtled into the same washout north of Coen their vehicle had fallen into.

Mr Hill appeared to have been trying to pull Mr Toohey clear of the bull catcher, bringing both of them into the path of the airborne 4WD, Mr Barnes said.

"It seems likely that with great courage he leapt up to the top of the bull catcher and pulled Mr Toohey from the vehicle," Mr Barnes said.

"The tragic irony is that if it had not been for Mr Hill's heroism, they might not have been killed."

He said Mr Hill had been foolhardy and reckless in not stopping, but that did not excuse the police officers.

Neither Sgt Eaton nor his passenger, Constable Jarred Heuston, had given sufficient regard to the safety of the men in the bull catcher, Mr Barnes said.

He criticised police for not removing the bodies from the scene until late the next day when they had started to decompose.

Mrs Hill said she had not been allowed to see her husband's body and at first no-one told her how he had died.

"How do you deal with something if you don't see it with your own eyes? You're talking about my husband, he was left out there till 4 o'clock and I was not allowed to go and see him," she said.

"If it had been a copper's body they would have done everything in their power."

Mr Barnes also criticised senior officers involved in the investigation, including two assistant commissioners, for not concluding that the pursuit was dangerous.

"All considered that fairly minor traffic infringements justified the risk the officers took," Mr Barnes said.

"I consider the saving of innocent lives would justify a more restrictive policy."

Mr Barnes recommended Queensland Police trial more restrictive police pursuits of drivers suspected of only minor infringements.

A police spokesman said the service treated safety in police pursuits extremely seriously and would closely examine the Coroner's findings. Police had recently reviewed its policies relating to urgent duty driving, he said.

John Magoffin, the lawyer for Mr Toohey's widow Maryanne, said the family appreciated the Coroner's recommendations on police pursuits.