Should all tractors be fitted with seatbelts?

Photo / Elaine Fisher, Bay of Plenty Times

Opinion

A coroner wants all tractors to be fitted with seatbelts - but the farming industry isn't backing his call.

The call was made at an inquest into the case of Grant Murray Yates, 22, who died when he was thrown from a tractor and crushed by the machine as it rolled at Mangaheia Station in Poverty Bay on June 6 last year.

Gisborne coroner Allan Hall said blood tests showed Mr Yates was affected by cannabis at the time, but the cause of the accident was that the tractor was taken downhill on a steep slope, which was unsafe.

Debate on this issue will be closed over the summer break. Here is a selection of Your Views: