AN INQUEST has been held into how an Isle of Wight man died in hospital more than three weeks after being knocked down by a Skoda car on a pedestrian crossing. 

David Thomas Cairns was severely injured after he dashed across a 'puffin' crossing on the A3054 Binstead Hill while the traffic lights were green.

The accident, seen by a number of eyewitnesses, happened at around 10am on November 15, 2021.

They saw the 77-year-old, a retired local government officer, run from out of a shop and, in one continuous movement, go onto the crossing, where he was immediately struck by the Skoda, driven by Matthew Aubert, at a speed of no more than 25mph, in a 30mph zone.

The impact had such force, it "scooped" Mr Cairns onto the windscreen, the hearing at the Isle of Wight Coroner's Court, Newport, was told on Friday.

Mr Cairns, struggling with horrific fractures and a bleeding head wound, repeatedly told the shocked driver, "I'm sorry", before he attempted to crawl across to the other side of the road.

After being helped by people at the scene, Mr Cairns was taken by ambulance to St Mary's Hospital, Newport.

His list of injuries, described by Isle of Wight Coroner, Caroline Sumeray as "distressing", included fractures to his legs, ribs and collar bone, and a punctured lung.

Emergency operations were required for the ribs, which prevented him from breathing, and his legs, after he had been transferred to Southampton General Hospital later that day. 

He suffered a heart attack — the high level of stress put on his heart caused by the injuries he suffered and the operations we underwent, the hearing was told. 

Mr Cairns died at the hospital on December 8.

A post mortem concluded he died of hypoxic brain injury, where the brain is starved of oxygen — due to heart conditions, compounded by physiological stress from multiple injuries, chronic heart disease and leukaemia.

Mrs Sumeray concluded Mr Cairns died from a road traffic collision. 

Police say Mr Aubert was totally blameless, following an extensive, 16-month investigation.

Mr Cairns, of Hazlemere Avenue, Binstead, was born in Wood Green, North London, on April 6, 1944.