A New Zealand driver who used a fake car seat belt to fool police was killed when it failed him in a head-on crash, local media reported recently.

Ivan Segedin refused to wear a seat belt while driving and had been fined 32 times in the past five years for not wearing one, a coroner’s court heard. Segedin, 39, died in a crash on July 22 last year from multiple injuries when his car crossed the road and collided head-on with an oncoming vehicle on North Island, coroner Carla na Negara said.

“Ultimately Mr. Segedin’s actions in driving without a seat belt have cost him his life in an accident that he may well have survived had he worn one,” the New Plymouth Daily News quoted her saying.

Though his car was fitted with seat belts, an extra belt with a long strap had been knotted above the seat belt on the driver’s side, providing a belt to simply sit over the driver’s shoulder, Negara said.

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