CORONER SPEAKS OUT

Hokitika Guardian, 24 July 1931, Page 2

CORONER SPEAKS OUT

LEVEL-CROSSING DANGERS. DEPARTMENT’S APATHY. ' NEW PLYMOUTH, July 19. A protest against the Railway Department’s attitude toward level crossings was made by the district coroner, Mi •A. L. Ken tv' dy, at Stratford after rnnouncing verdicts regarding the deaths of the three victims of the level-crossing accident at Stratford on May 1. the deaths result d from a collision between a motor-car and the south-bound express. Ihe victims of the accident were Mrs Mary Maud Millar, her daughter, Mrs Violet Sarah McKenzie, and Mr William Hathaway, retired farmer, aged 75. The two women were killed at the time of the accident, and Mr 'Hathaway died on ’Monday last.

MECHANISM AND SPEED

The verdict of the coroner was that Mrs Millar and Mrs McKenzie died as the result of injuries received in the collis’on and that Mr Hathaway died from kidney and heart disease, accelerated by injuries received. No blame was attachable to the driver of the train. "Warnings have been r peated time and again by coroners and magistrates to mo orists to keep a proper look out at crossings,” said Mr Kennedy. “In these days of mechanism and speed a large proportion of the people ignore the >eal danger of accidents, * "At, this crossing the visibility was stated by if witness to ba good, but that is not the opinion of a number n ; pimple in Stratford. The borough council and other bodies have taken action, cons’dering it is the worst crossing in Stratford as far as visibility is concerned, ••As to the Railway Department, Die danger has been pointed out, but the' arc not willing to do much yet. imi rbing is certain, and that is tlri if -1 ' railways were run by private enterprise the Government would immediately have something :o sav, as is the case in other countries, especially in Brita.n, where crossings arc made reasonably safe for the public. SYMPATHY TOR DRIVERS. “I do not know what can be done to improve this crossing. I have thought that an extension of the electric bell system m'ght be o! service. Representations have beer, made' to the authoritres about it, but I cannot say if any more will be heard of them. “Further,” added Mr Kennedy, “1 wish to express sympathy with the drivers of these trains. In some cases no sympathy is shown to them, but I feel that they must have a very anxious time. In the course of their duties some have been seriously injured and others killed through the crossing menace.”-