DANGER NEAR PATEA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 4 November 1924, Page 4

DANGER NEAR PATEA.

MOTORIST’S ESCAPE. FROM LIVE WIRE. A motorist had a narrow escape from death yesterday, when he drove into one of the Patea Borough Council’s power transmission lines which had come down on to the main road. Apparently the break occurred shortly after midday, the line coming down on to the centre of the tar-sealed road at a spot about two miles on the' Hawera side of Patea. The cause was the snapping of the cross-arm on one of the poles, and owing to the curve in that particular part of the road the line in falling swung out into the centre of the highway. A portion of the cross-arm still remained attached to the wire, and this, as it rested on the road, served to draw motorists’ attention to what had occurred. A swerve to the side on to the soft portion of the road allowed vehicles to pass safely, but one motorist, Mr A. Pearce, of Kakaramea, who was driving a two-seater Ford without a hood up. drove in underneath the line, and did- not notice it until it had struck his hat and had knocked it back on. his head. He pulled up on the other side, and it was only then that he became aware of his narrow escape.

A few minutes. later the Patea Borough Council were advised of what had happened, and at 2 p.m. linesmen, were on the scene repairing the break.