TWO HANDLING ONE CAR

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 54, 27 November 1926, Page 15

TWO HANDLING ONE CAR

RESULTS IN TRAGEDY CORONER’S COMMENTS AT INQUEST Dominion Special. Christchurch, November 26. “I do not usually make any comments at inquests, but I think I ought to comment on the practice of two people handling a car and neither knowing what the other intends doing in regard to the gears, speeds, and other things,” said Mr. H. P. Lawry, S.M., District Coroner, in recording his verdict at the inquest this morning on Mrs. Nlatilda Featherstone, who was killed at Sumner on Sunday, October 24. The Coroner said that lie would I return ap open verdict that deceased died at Sumner on October 24, the cause of death being a fractured skull sustained through being crushed against the monument by a car driven jointly by Henry Neale and William John Lugg. , „ m further comment, the Coroner saad that the joint control of the car had considerably contributed to the acci; dent in the present case was beyond doubt. When Lugg put the engine into gear he must have put it into top gear instead of into low. The speed ■which the car attained proved this. “I cannot comment too strongly on the dangerous practice adopted on this occasion,” concluded the Coroner. Mrs. Featherstone was crushed against a seat on the Esplanade on which she and her daughter, Mrs. Christina E. Martin, were sitting. The adjourned inquest was concluded today. Sergeant McKenzie conducted the case for the police, Mr. Tracy appeared on behalf of the relatives of the deceased, Mr. Sim represented HenryNeale, of Springston, the driver of the car, and Mr. Sargent represented William Lugg, the owner of the car. Angus Mitchell, traffic inspector for the Sumner Borough Council, said that when he examined the car after the accident it was in top gear. The brakes were in good order, but the steering gear was badly damaged, and the wheels required attention in being towed to the garage. The car travelled 36 feet to cross the road, and then turned, striking the stone coping 14 feet away, and it then struck the seat 19 feet further on. The car was brought to a standstill 48 feet from the turn. The switch had been turned off and the engine stopped. The rear wheels had been spinning before tlie car moved off. He thought the car had started off in top gear, but the driver would probably not be aware of this until the back wheels bad spun through the sand and got a grip. To .Mr. Sim: It was the striking against the coping which damaged the steering-gear, and the driver had no control over the car after that. Cases had been known of the gears being changed when cars had met with collisions or accidents. The fact that the car was in top gear after the accident did not necessarily mean that it was in top gear when it started, or when it struck the coping. It would be possible for anyone sitting on the left of the driver to operate the gearlevor while the driver attended to the clutch. If the car had not struck the coping it would have turned successfully and missed the seat. The wheel marks showed this clearly.

William John Lugg, owner of the car, said he drove the car down, and it. was suggested that Neale should drive back. In starting, the car stalled at first, but on the second attempt it bounded away suddenly 'lhe whole thing happened so quickly that he was not clear as to what actually did occur. The car struck something before hitting the seat. To Mr. Sira: Neale had driven the car before. Witness was to attend to the gear-changing, while Neale drove. they had done this before satisfactorily; The reason for doing this was that Neale’s left hand was infirm. Witness had never known the car to bound forward before. Neale’s efforts to turn the car would have a tendency to make him draw his feet under him and away from the clutch.

To Mr Sargent: Witness left the car in neutral gear, as was hij usual practice. To Mr. Tracy: Neale had been driving for four years, to witness’s knowledge. The ' emergency brake was alongside the gear-lever, and was to

be under witness’s charge. It did not occur to witness to turn off the switch. To the Coroner: Neale started the car with the hand throttle open, and with the self-starter. When the engine started, the car was given a little more petrol He thought the car was in neutral when started. Witness put the lever into first gear. He was certain that lie did not put the car into top gear. To Mr Tracy: The question of turning off the switch was not mentioned bv either himself or Neale prior to the start. Witness did not pull on the emergency brake. To Mr Sargent: Witness had a confused idea as to what happened. Henrv Neale, clerk to the Springs Countv Council, said it had been arranged that he should drive the car back. He had been driving a car for vears, the gear-levers always being on the right-hand side. The car was started from Sumner by witness, first declutching with his left foot, and putting his other foot on the self-starter. Witness did not try the levers, as he did not understand them. When he left the clutch out the engine, stalled. He started the engine again, and when he let the clutch out the car jumped forward. Witness could not sav what gear the car was in, but it started much faster than rnv car he had known. After the car struck the coping-stone witness could not control it. The Coroner recorded his verdict as above.