MOTOR-CAR ACCIDENTS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 30, 5 February 1913, Page 10

MOTOR-CAR ACCIDENTS

THE KAUKAPAIfAPA FATALITY;. INQUEST AND FINDING. (BY TiCI.EGKArtt — rHESS 4SSOCIATIO.Vi) AUCKLAND, 4th Vebrnaiy 1 . The inquest on the dpath of Kllcn Mary Gordon, who was killed in a moloi Icar accident ut Kaukapakapa on 14th January, was continued 10-daj at Ilplens.ville. * Nina Morton Hill, wife of Dudley Bnmo Hill, of Femhill. flawkcs Ba\, s.v'd that ni, the time of the p^cident Mr. Hill was driving. Jim, Gordon v.us sitting beside him. Witness was sitting behind the driver. The spsedomeip) 1 registered an average of ten miles an hour -between Auckland and llelens\ille. On reaching a bridge two miles on the Helensville side <f Kauknpakapa they thought they had left the railway. Witness kept a sharp look-out. She saw no bignalb before the smash. Wit news had some recollection uf healing a whistle the: same instant as catching sight of the engine, which .vas at the crown of the dip. Mr. Hill crammed on his brakes, but the impetus was too great, and the distance too short. The occupants weie all thrown out. and -the forepart of the car was smashed. Her sister (the deceased) was picked up beside the cattle-stop. Witness did not know at that time she was dead, but knew she was .badly hurt. The engine was hidden by thp trees, which fouii a hedge. They did not attempt to rush the Jine. They had r. map, but the map did not show the railway crossing. ■ t Dudley Bruce Hill said he was an experienced driver. He had been driving for ten years. H> did not see am sign. "Stop ! Look out for the engine!" IJe die) not sec the railway 'inc. Witness heard no .whistle, except when he sighted the engine. 'I'Lat would be when thg, car was 1 a chain or a chain and a-half away. The engine was hidden by trees, and thn rails by a dip in the road. The crossing was the most dangerous one he had ever seen. Other evidence was heard. After two hours' adjournment the jury returned the following verdict: — "That the t deceased Ellen Mary Gordon was accidentally killed at Kaukapakapa through a motor-car, of which she was the occupant, colliding with the railway train." The following riders were* added :—- "That the crossing is a particularly dangerous _ one, owing .to the approach thereto being obscured by hedges, which should have been kept cut or removed, and also from the fact, that there is a bend in the roadway atf that place. "That the regulation stop-sign, owing to the bend of the road mentioned, is, because of its situation, useless as a sufficient warning as to distance, and should, in our opinion, be placed on the other side of the road. "That, in view of the dangerous nature of this crossing, the jury does not consider that the Railway Department has provided sufficient, Warning of the proximity of the crossing to serve as a safeguard to the travelling public. "That since, in the case of this crossing, the growth of trees aW hedges obstructs the view at a distance, and increases the danger of crossings, the local body of the locality affected should assist the Railway Department in removing and having removed such obstructions, and that this should be a matter of standing instructions to their rangers. "That it is a recommendation of the jury that, if so required, the rules and regulations of the Railway Department affecting railway crossings, stop signals and signs be retrained and enforced in such a way as to enable the peculiar requirements'of each particular crossing to be considered." INJURIES TO A LAD— CLAIM FOR DAMAGES, ' AUCKLAND, 4th February. The hearing of evidence in an action in which the father of Phillip Roland Hartnell (an infant) claimed from Oswald James Melvern the sum of £16 19s special damages, and £1000 general damages, for injuries > received by the lad through being struck by a motor-car owned by defendant, was concluded at the Supreme Court to-day, before Judge Cooper and a jury. After retirement, the jury brought in a verdict for £300 general damages and the special damages claimed. ANOTHER CLAIM. OAMARU, 4th February. ' A case was tried in the Supreme Court to-day, in* which the father of a boy named Farquhar sued a young man named Whitton, or in the alternate, his father, for the sum of £501 as damages in connection wi£h a motor-car accident, by which the boy Farquhar was alleged to have beep injured. The question was whether the car was on its right side of the road, and Whether H was beins driven at a reasonable rate of speed. The case lasted all " day. and ihto the evening. The jury gave a verdict for £25 against both" defendants, and the Judge intimated that he would have to decide whether tiler case was one that should have been brought before 4 the Supreme Court, as the scale of costs' would depend on this.