Skateboards and scooters should be banned from all public roads, according to the Queensland coroner who investigated the death of a teenage boy hit by a drunk driver.

At the very least, skaters and scooter riders on the road should be forced to wear helmets at all times and reflective gear at night, he recommended.

Skateboarder Ethan Stephenson, 14, died of head injuries on June 7, 2014, when drunk driver George Holford ran into him on Russell Island, in southern Moreton Bay.

Holford, who served nine months of a three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death, told the inquest in the Brisbane Coroners Court late last year he did not remember seeing the boy about 5.15pm that day.

He told the inquest he had had four or five cans of Victoria Bitter in the two hours before he got in the car and denied driving erratically or reaching speeds exceeding 100km/h, as some witnesses claimed.

In a roadside breath test, Holford recorded between 0.07 and 0.08 after the first police officer on the scene noticed he had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol.

The death, on the island's main road and 100 metres from Ethan's home, sparked anger and calls for better footpaths and lighting.

Coroner John Hutton, who noted an "unprecedented" number of letters sent to him from islanders, found the footpath along Centre Road installed after the boy's death may have saved his life had it been there at the time.

In findings handed down on Wednesday, Mr Hutton did not criticise the Redland City Council for not having built the path earlier and found it had acted adequately afterwards.

But he made a number of recommendations to the council, police and the state government, including calling for "skateboards, scooters, and similar wheeled recreational devices" to be banned from all public roads.

Currently in Queensland, they can be ridden on most residential streets with speed limits 50km/h or lower, but only during the day.

Many other states have similar laws but South Australia mandates helmet use.

"In my view, it is unsafe to allow skateboards and the like on public roads," Mr Hutton said.

"I agree with the concerns raised by the Redland City Council that they are an unregulated form of transport.

"They do not need to meet safety standards that other regulated forms of transport must.

"For example, bicycle riders are required to wear helmets but skateboard riders are not. Skateboards do not have brakes, so their braking ability is limited."

Failing an outright ban, Mr Hutton urged the state government to mandate helmets and the wearing of reflective clothing or lights at night.

He also called for a council committee to consider lowering 60km/h roads on Russell Island to 50km/h and stationing more police in the community.

"As it turns out, Ethan was not legally permitted to ride his skateboard on Centre Road because the speed limit was 60km/h at the time of the incident," he said.

"Ironically though, if the speed limit on Centre Road were reduced to 50km/h, as per my suggestion, skateboarders would then be legally permitted on that road.

"This is an unsatisfactory outcome."

Mr Hutton urged the government to introduce a public bus service on the island and for police to increase speed enforcement there.