MOTORING ACCIDENTS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5505, 25 November 1929, Page 2

MOTORING ACCIDENTS.

MINOR MISHAPS ON PLAINS. FRIDAY’S BIG TOTAL. Minor mishaps to motorists on the Hauraki Plains are of very frequent occurrence, but Friday last must have been a particularly unlucky day, or perhaps it was a lucky day for the “Gazette’s” news gatherer, for no less than six incidents came under his notice between Ngatea and Netherton. With the exception of one, they were of such a minor nature as not to warrant reporting.

The exception was a collision between a Ford driven by Mr H. W. Fearn, farmer, of Waihi, and a Dodge, driven by Mr E. Taylor, of Kerepeehi. This occurred at the intersection of the Kerepeehi-Wharepoa road, with' the Paeroa-Pokeno highway, and the Ford was struck bfShdside on, so that it slid off the road and jumped the drain. It then ran backwards into the drain. Besides the driver there, were three women and a child in the car, but they were not injured. However, there was sufficient water in the drain to wet them to the waist. The body of the Ford was considerably damaged, and a new hood, s runningboard, and mudguards will be required. The chassis of the Dodge was bent. Of the other mishaps two might have been serious. A light car was being driven at a good pace along Pekopeka Road when the back wheels skidded in the loose metal and, aided by the high camber, described a complete semi-circle so that the car turned about and proceeded in the direction it had come in record time. A motor-cyclist who attempted this manner of cornering at the Netherton end of the river stop-bank road showed that he h>d not mastered the dirttrack riders’ knack of broadsliding and crashed. When a traffic jamb occurred on the Ngatea bridge and it became necessary for a number’ of vehicles to back off the bridge the driver of a Ford car turned the wrong way-when reaching the bottom, and but fol’ a stout pile in the drain would have been in a bad way, for the drain is narrow and deep, and at the time was full of water. As it was, the car stopped right on the edge and was easily removed. Another minor mishap at the Ngabridge was caused through two cars to pass. The wheels of one car mounted the protecting timber at one side and dropped over, and difficulty was experienced in moving the car. At Kerepeehi the brakes of a motorcycle failed to act, and to stop his machine the rider ran up a bank. Roadside repairs were necessary before he could proceed. Saturday afternoon saw a meat van in a roadside drain between Ngatea and Kerepeehi as the result of a skid in the loose gravel following a puncture in a back tyre.