Partially worn seatbelt failed to save life | Oamaru News | Local News in Oamaru

The importance of wearing seatbelts correctly has been highlighted in a coroner's report into the death of a young Oamaru woman.

Natasha Sheree Maindonald died when the car she was travelling in crashed into a bank and rolled on Parsons Road on September 7, 2008.

She was a passenger in the car with three other young women, aged 18 and 19, and while she was wearing a seatbelt, it was not worn correctly.

Coroner David Crerar, whose inquiry was held in the Coroner's Court chambers in Dunedin on August 31, said he wanted to draw public attention to the need for passengers to use seatbelts appropriately.

"Instead of the diagonal belt being fitted over the shoulder, as it was designed and engineered to do, it was placed, by Natasha Maindonald, under her arm, thus giving a lesser degree of security and restraint," Mr Crerar said.

"When the car rolled over [she] was partially ejected from the vehicle and was crushed between it and the fence against which it came to rest." He said the cause of death was positional asphyxia.

The driver, Charlene Elizabeth Barnes, was convicted in the Oamaru District Court in 2009 on charges of drink-driving and dangerous driving causing death.

Mr Crerar was satisfied that the circumstances had been dealt with by the judge and so a full inquest was not needed.