MOTOR AMBULANCE FATALITY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 64, 10 December 1918, Page 3

MOTOR AMBULANCE FATALITY

INQUEST ON DINNIE DIVER DEATH DUE TO INJURIES RECEIVED ■ Tho adjourned inquest into the cause of the death of Dinnie Diver at the Wellington Hospital on November .0, after being struck by a hospital ambulance driven by Arthur Sinclair, while Diver was crossing Adelaide Road, was continued vesterdav afternoon before - Mr. \V. G. Riddell, S.M. Senior-Sergeant Cream conducted the inquiry, Mr.'M. Myers appeared for Sinclair, Mr. P. J. O'Rcgan for the relations of the deceased, Mr. J. A. Tripe for the City Corporation, and Mr. W. F. Wood for tho Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. John Bernard Steole, employed bv tho Union Clothing Company, said that on Hie date in question he was standing on the footpath in Adelaide Road near the Tramway Hotel, opposite the bottle department. He had just alighted from the tramcar from Island Bay, and heard tho approach of tho ambulance. Looking towards the ambulance he saw Diver walking across the street at an angle, j and about three or four feet from the I footpath, piver was coining towards wit- | ness at a "slow pace. At that time wit-, ness had not seen the ambulance, but he had heard the horn sounded. The ambulance came from the left side and then swerved off to the right behind tho tramcar, as if to head deceased off, but struck the man when in the middle of the road. Had the deceased walked across 'the road at right angles the ambulance would have got past without an accident, but the angle at which he was walking was in itself an obstruction. The speed of the ambulance was fully, 25 miles an hour. To Mr. Myers: The' deceased was the obstruction that the ambulance had to avoid. He heard the ambulance horn sounded beforo he saw the car. The sound of the horn was very loud, and he thought at the. time that the man should have heard it. He, however, kept straight on, and gave no sign that he lied heard it. In the opinion of witness if deceased heard the ambulance horn hi- would have been able to avoid the accident. John Thomas Lawson, a oaretaker living in Adelaide Road, said that on the date in question he was near the Tramway Hotel, about 200 yards from the corner, and was walking up the street. The first thing he noticed was the sounding of the ambulance alarm, and when he eaw the ambulance it was turning the corner on the opposite side and getting into Adelaide Itoad. It was on the proper side, and near the footpath, when passing the tramcar. He then 6aw the ambulance swerve to the right. He saw the deceased, who appeared to be crossing to the side of the street where witness was. The ambulance struck the deceased, who was carried about two or three feet. The ambulance stopped, and tho man fell off. Witness could not say how fast the ambulance was travelling, but he had seen private- cars travelling faster in Adelaide Road.

Constable H. Shields, who was in the neighbourhood at the time of the accident, saicl he saw the ambulance travelling on its proper side of the road in Adelaide Road, and passing a tramcar. The ambulance stopped near the Tramway Hotel. He saw tho deceased immediately after the accident, and took him to the Hospital. Witness then returned to the. scene of the accident and made certain measurements. From kerb to kerb at tho point of the accident Adelaide Road was 51ft. From the kerb to the inner rail of the outgoing tramline was.~about 18ft. The gauge of the tram line was about Ift. The deceased was lying about 22ft. from the kerb in a straight line. Froni the intersection or kerb at the corner ot Drummond Street to where deceased was lying was about 25ft. The ambulance, travelled about 55ft. from where the deceased was lying. Witness was of opinion that the motor ambulance was travelling about 35 to id miles per hour. / To Mr. Myers: He had the ambulance under observation for about 300 yards. The ambulance, as far as he could see, never went nearer its wrong side of the road than the csntro of the thoroughfare. William Wharton, employed at the Pub|ic Hospital Dispensary, said that on the day in question he was on the ambulance with the driver. The ambulance had been to Binham Street to remove an influenza patient to the Hospital. As the ambulance was going up Adelaido Road it kept to its proper side of the thoroughfare, ,and was travelling about twenty miles per hour as it approached Drummond Street. There was a tramcar pulled up at the stop, and as the ambulance passed the car he saw a man come out of. Drummond Street and he warned Sinclair, the driver, to look out for" the man, who was going at a slow trot. When Sinclair saw the man he swerved tho car to tho right, and the left side of the car struck tho man. The projection behind the driver's seat struck deceased, who dropped at once to the ground. Had Sinclair steadied down the car and continued straight on he would have ftruck the deceased full on. If he had turned to the left the right side of the car would have struck him. The accident was inevitable. Witness did not think the deceased was carried along by the car. He was struck and immediately fell back. To Mr. Myers: From the time witness saw the deceased the latter never looked toward the ambulance, although the gong was going the whole time. ' The Coroner's finding was that Diver's death Was duo to injuries received by being knocked down by a motor ambulance driven by Arthur Sinclair, who was employed by the Wellington Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. \