Run over toddler's death avoidable - coroner

Samantha Mauheni adored her 21-month-old son Kingston, family members say. Photo / Supplied

The death of a toddler who was run over by a car in a Gisborne driveway was a preventable accident, a coroner has found.

21-month-old Kingston-oshay Mauheni-Shelford died in Gisborne Hospital on August 22 from head injuries sustained when he was hit by a Subaru Impreza in a driveway on Lorraine St, Kaiti.

A report released by Coroner Christopher Devonport this morning found Kingston's mother Samantha Mauheni, 21, accidentally ran over her baby while trying to move her car out of her garage.

The report said Ms Mauheni had left the car in reverse gear when parking it in the garage.

When she went to move it, she leaned through the front window to turn the ignition, it said.

That caused the car to jump backwards down the driveway on its own, the report found.

When Ms Mauheni walked around to the front of the car, she saw Kingston - who she thought was inside watching TV - lying on the driveway with his head showing and the rest of his body under the vehicle.

"Although Ms Mauheni says that she could see Kingston down the passage when she went to start the Subaru, the reality is that Kingston made his way from the house and was run over and tragically killed by the reversing vehicle.

"The safer course of action would have been to ensure that Kingston was secure in the house...or secure in the vehicle," Mr Devonport found.

The report said drivers should only start cars while in the front seat with the brake depressed.

SafeKids has an on-going campaign aimed at preventing children being run over in driveways.

Its director Ann Weaver said an increasing number of children were being run over in driveways every year.

"There's around five deaths a year and every two weeks there's a child that's hospitalised as a result of the injury," Ms Weaver said.

"We estimate around 80 per cent of the incidents are from reversing and 20 per cent are from the vehicle moving forwards."

Ms Weaver said the victims were often between 1 and 3 years old.

People often didn't realise what they couldn't see when they got into the car, she said.

"There is a large blind zone of up to three metres around and if you look in the rear vision mirror it's up to 10 metres that you can't see at the back.

"So you can actually fit a classroom of children behind a car and the driver will not see them."