MOTOR OCCIDENT.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4962, 14 April 1926, Page 2

MOTOR OCCIDENT.

PAEROA-POKENO ROAD MISHAP.

CAR TURNS A SOMERSAULT.

A niotor-ca,!’ accident in which the two occupants had a remarkable, escape occurred on the Paeroa-Pokeno roa,d last week. The car, a five-seater Buick, was at the time returning to Waikino 'from Auckland, and wa.s being driven by its. owner, .Mr John Pivac, biUiard-isaloon proprietor, who was accompanied by a young man named James, also a resident of Wa.ikino. '

■ When about four miles, this side of the Mangata,whiri Valley, and in the vicinity of Friedlander's Tarm, the car,, then ■ travelling at a. speed of from 18 to' 22 miles, reached, a patch of smooth-taoed river shingle with which the road was being metalled, swerved to the left and dashed into the bank; which at thajt particular point is about T 8 inches high. ■ Turning a comidete somersault the car, wheels in the air,'-came to rest, one part on the bank and the other on the roadway, with Pivap and his companion underneath. That it so landed appears to hage been the salvation of the occupants, who were thus, able to wriggle their way out through the small space left between the road and bank to safety.

Apart from a few cuts on \his left hand, caused-byxthe splintered glass from the windscreen, Mr Pivac was none the worse for his misadventure, while Ja.mes also , escaped with scratches and bruises, none of them serious.

The hood. and upper parts of the car were badly damaged, but the mechanism apparently did not suffer, as after the car had been righted with assistance. Mr Pivac was: able to drive it to Auckland, a matter of over 50 miles-, where it was left: for repairs.