A sheriff was asked to declare that a Perth taxi driver may not have died if he was wearing a seatbelt, at a fatal accident inquiry in Dundee.
Gavin McCabe (41) was killed when a suicidal driver smashed into his cab on the city’s Kingsway in March last year.
The inquiry into Mr McCabe’s death heard closing submissions when it resumed on Wednesday.
Depute fiscal Keith Robertson asked Sheriff George Way to make formal findings about the circumstances and place where Mr McCabe was killed.
The fiscal suggested the sheriff decide, “A reasonable precaution that could and should have been taken was to wear a seatbelt, albeit it was not a criminal offence that he was not.”
Mr Robertson told the inquiry, “It would have prevented him being ejected from the vehicle.
“We cannot be sure what injury he sustained before he was ejected and we cannot say with certainty whether a seatbelt would have saved his life, but if he had been wearing a seatbelt his life may have been saved.”
Taxi drivers are exempt from wearing seatbelts when carrying fares, the fiscal said.
He said that representations were made to parliament by taxi drivers and owners’ associations about the safety of drivers carrying strangers in their vehicles.
Thus taxi drivers were allowed not to wear seatbelts so they could exit the cab if threatened.
* The driver of the car which smashed into Mr McCabe’s taxi, Halim Cholmeley (36), was sentenced to six years in prison for the failed suicide bid when he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh in March this year.
Cholmeley admitted that on March 15, 2009, he drove dangerously under the influence of alcohol, drove at excessive speed and failed to give way at the roundabout.
He also admitted taking the car without permission and driving while disqualified and without insurance.
The BMW he was driving travelled at up to 77mph before going straight through the Myrekirk Roundabout without stopping.
Mr McCabe’s cab was sent spinning and he was thrown out through the rear passenger window, a police crash investigator told the inquiry.
The sheriff will issue his determination at a later date.