SEQUEL TO COLLISION WITH TRAIN

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 60, 4 December 1926, Page 13

SEQUEL TO COLLISION WITH TRAIN

MOTOR-BUS DRIVER FINED “THE LAW REQUIRED HIM TO STOP” Dominion Special. Auckland, December 4. The driver of a motor-bus which collided with a goods train at Church Street crossing, between Southdown and Penrose, on the evening of October 12, was prosecuted at the Magistrate’s Court to-day on charges of having attempted to pass a level crossing when the line was not clear, and of having failed to stop. E. W. Olhff, the defendant, was represented by Mr. J.'J. Sullivan. Mr. Gould appeared on behalf of the Railway Department. Two trains passed on the south side of the crossing, according to evidence given by witnesses for the prosecution. The south-bound train had just passed the crossing, the engine whistle blowing, when the north-bound—a goods train—readied the roadway. Hie motor-bus, which contained a number of passengers, including members of the Devonport Orphans’ Club, moved forward as the south-bound passenger train left the crossing, and the front of the bus struck the engine of the up train. The impact slewed the bus round, and a wheel was ripped off. “Lucky there weren’t a lot more orphans," observed Mr. Hunt drily. The defence put forward by Mr. Sullivan was that the passenger train was brightly illuminated, whereas the goods train, with its unliglited wagons, was less likely to be noticed. Defendant had not heard the whistle given by the goods train, because the sound mingled with the whistle of the passenger train. “This man is a driver of a public conveyance,” said the Magistrate, “and in the interests of the public safety is required to take the greatest care and kep the sharpest lookout. Because two or three passengers can say that they saw nothing it does not show that there was nothing to see. It is the driver's business to keep a lookout. Passengers may be looking anywhere. I think this man would have seen this train. He is a man who knows there are two lines at this crossing, and he must have seen the engine had he looked down the line. The law required him to stop, and he didn’t stop.” A fine of £2 10s. was imposed, and defendant was ordered to pay witnesses’ expenses (£2 10s.), costs (75.), and solicitor’s fee (£1 Is.).