TRAM LIFE GUARDS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 201, 20 May 1919, Page 5

TRAM LIFE GUARDS

COMMENTS 'BY A CORONER.

ll.v Teleffrajph—Press Association . i - Auckland, May IS. The question of the efficiency of the life guards employedfoii the tramca''s was gone into by' Mr. J. .K. Wilson, S.M., as an aspect ot' the ,in_quest relative to the death of Charles vvwiani Coleiiian, a lad who was run over' by a tramcar on College Hill on March 4. The coroner Witnessed a demonstration, and took evidence respecting- the wotting of the lite guards. He'found that the death of. the boy was. the result of injuries received through bbipg knocked down-by a tramcar and that no blame was attachable to the driver of the car as he had hail r.o opportunity of averting thu accident, in a ruler tlie coroner adds: "I. am of option that the body of deceased passed under the,life guard of tho ear, and was dragged and crushed by the under part of the car until it was caught by the brake block at ( the left hand rear set of wheels and thrown clear of tho car. The life-saving apparatus iii use on the oar is of tho type -approved by tho Publie .Works Department, and is recognised a? being one of the best in usu on tramcars.' ' The evidence, however, shows that its value as a safeguard against loss of life or less injury is dependent in grciit measure on the position in which the body or other object is lying on thu track, and that tho extent' of injury may depend on the rapidity with which the car can be brought to a stop. To be absolutely.effective guards should be so constructed as to prevent anything ly? ing on the track from getting beueath any part of the car."