14 Feb 2012

Seatbelt could have saved crushed man

7:54 pm on 14 February 2012

The coroner has found the death of a radio technician who was crushed by his own car would not have happened if he had been wearing a seatbelt.

Geoffrey Skinner, 41, was reversing out of his Christchurch garage last September, on the way to pick up takeaways.

He had his car door open to better see where he was reversing, when it became entangled in a shelving unit at the side of the garage.

That caused his car to slide sideways into another car parked in the garage; when he tried to correct this, he was partially thrown from the vehicle.

Mr Skinner was then trapped and crushed as the side of his car hit the entrance wall of the garage.

He was found 40 minutes later by his wife.

In her report Coroner Sue Johnson says had Mr Skinner been wearing a seatbelt, it is unlikely he would have been thrown from the vehicle, and would not have been trapped.