DANGEROUS SURFACE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 667, 20 May 1929, Page 14

DANGEROUS SURFACE

CORONER CRITICISES MAIN HIGHWAY DEATH OF MOTOR-CYCLIST (From Our Own Correspondent) HAMILTON, Today. The condition of the Hamilton-Te Rapa Road was adversely criticised by the coroner, Mr. Wyvern Wilson. S.M., at an inquest at Hamilton today concerning the death of James Roberts-, junr.. of Huntly, who received fatal injuries when his motor-cycle skidded in the loose sand on the main highway on May S. He died a week later from meningitis, following a fracture at the base of the skull. George Mclntyre. miner, of Glen Massey, said that Roberts pass-ed him on a motor-cycle about G. 30 in the evening. He saw the machine overturn about 200 yards ahead. When witness lifted the cycle off him Roberts was found to be unconscious. Witness removed him in his car to the Waikato Hospital. There was a fair amount of loose sand on the road outside the car tracks. Corroborative evidence was gi\%n by John Joseph Keogan, sawmiller, of Mercer. In returning a verdict of accidental death the coroner remarked that the road presented a dangerous surface to motorists. It was difficult to discriminate at night between the hard surface and the sand. Roberts did not appear to have been moving at an excessive speed.