A three-year-old boy may have survived a crash that killed him if his child seat had been properly secured, a coroner has found.
Coroner Madeleine Wilson recently handed down her findings into the boy’s death following a crash near Pipers River in Tasmania’s north.
The boy died on March 22, 2024, when the car his mother was driving veered off Bridport Road and hit a stand of trees.
He and his four-year-old sister were seated in individual child seats in the back, but neither was anchored to the vehicle.
The force of the crash threw the boy forward. He was ejected between the front seats and struck the interior of the car.
He was driven to hospital by a local resident but could not be revived.
A post-mortem found he died from multiple blunt-force injuries, including a severe head injury, a fractured skull, a fractured jaw, a fractured shoulder and a collapsed lung.
A transport inspector who examined the car found both child seats were more than 10 years old and had passed their expiry date.
One was wedged between the driver’s seat and the roof after the crash, while the other was found between the front passenger seat and the rear seat.
In the hours before the crash, the boy’s mother had picked up an acquaintance in George Town and used methamphetamine.
The group then stole a ute and she was following the stolen vehicle when she crashed.
She later pleaded guilty to causing death by negligent driving, along with several summary offences.
Magistrate Simon Brown sentenced her to a wholly suspended five-month prison term and disqualified her from driving for two years.
Wilson noted Brown had described the failure to secure the child seats as “very serious”.
While she said no formal recommendations were necessary, Wilson made a pointed observation about the cause of death.
“… If the child seat had been secured correctly to the vehicle, the outcome for the child may have been different,” she said.
