TRIPLE FATALITY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 68, 7 April 1937, Page 5

TRIPLE FATALITY

-Press Assooiation.)

Inquest on Mount Bruce Victims NO LACK OF CARE

(By Telezraph-

masterton, Last Night. A triple f atality which occurred in Masterton as the xesult of a collision between a motor-car and a motor-lorry on Mount Bruce road on the evening of February 15, was the subject of an inquest to-day, when the coroner, Mr e. G. Eton, returned a finding in accordance with the medical . evidence. The three victims were Leslie William Sharman, his wife Margaret Sharman, and Charles Herbert Howes, who were in the car which was driven by Sharman. A fourth person in the car was Edward Barnard Waters, who escaped with kerious injury, and he was one of the witnesses to-day- The accident was said to have happened about 5.45 p.m. After givingj his finding the coroner said there was no evidence of any carelessness being shown by the driver or any persons in the car, or, for that matter, by the driver of the lorry* but there was no doubt that the road was in a good and sound condition, and it was recognised as being a safe road. Reymond Oedric Bushby, fruit merchant, Hastings, said he was driving his lorry along the Mt. Bruce road toward Masterton, and when turning a gradual bend a motor-car coming from Masterton hit him. He could not estimate the speed of- the car, but it was going] very fast. His own speed was between 25 and 30 miles. Witness der scribed how he and his passenger got out of the lorry and got the occupants out of the car, whieh was about 20 yards away. The driver of the car (Sharman) was lying on the road just outside the car, and appeared to be dead. , There was a woman sitting in the front seat, and two men in the back. The woman seemed all right and quite comfortable, so they did not touch her. Her head was down and she did not speak. They lifted the men out of the car. Witness saw the road was quite good, and there was ample room for two vehicles to pqss. He was' on his correct side when he was struck, but as a result of the impact the lorry was forced round to the wrong side. The bend was not a blind one, and there was no necessity to sound a horn. Visibility was gbod. Witness said he had been driving motor vehicles for about 12 yearsEdward Barnard Waters, the surviving passengjer in the car, said they left Masterton at 5,15 p.m. and travelled along the Opaki straight for a distance of about two miles at an average speed of 35 miles per hour. After that the speed was brought back to 30 m.p.h. It was a habit of his always to watch. the speedometer. Approaching the bend in the road the speed of the car would be 30 miles an hour, and the car was "hugging the bank." "The lorry was right on top of us when I, first noticed it, and it was well and truly on its wrong side of the road," witness said. Just prior to the impact itB nose had pulled to the left. He would not like to say what was the speed of the lorry. Sharman, he said, was a capable and steady driver, After medical and police evidence had been heard the coroner gave his verdict as stated above.