STRUCK BY MOTOR-CAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 884, 30 January 1930, Page 13

STRUCK BY MOTOR-CAR

NEGLIGENT DRIVING ALLEGED ACCIDENT AT PONSONBY Charged with negligently driving a motor-car in Jervois Road, Ponsonby, -on January 3. 1930, and causing the death of Josephine Clarke, Derrick Norman Moore- Wright appeared at the Magistrate’s Court this morning. At the same time, a coroner's inquirv was held. Mr. F. K. Hunt.S.M., acting as coroner and magistrate. Thomas James Nash, night watchman, of Jervois Road, said that at about 0.30 p.m. on the day in question he was travelling on the back of a tramcar on his way home. He noticed a motor-car about 150 to 200 yards in the rear, travelling faster than the tram. Witness thought the driver way trying to get past before the tram stopped at the Hamilton Road stop. He did not consider the motor reduced speed, and he noticed that a young woman who had alighted off the back platform was narrowly missed by the motor-car. Witness was endeavouring to secure the motor’s number when he saw a woman who had alighted from the tram tossed into the air by the motor, which swerved and skidded to the kerb, where it capsized. He assisted the woman, who was unconscious, to a doctor, and* afterward heard the driver state his brakes held locked. There was no other traffic at the time of the accident except another tramcar proceeding in the same direction. It was raining, and visibility was poor. Cross-examined by Mr. J. J. Sullivan, who appeared for defendant, witness said the motor passed the back platform on its four wheels, and it was the front of the motor that struck the woman. STEPPED BACK The motorman of the tramcar, John Howard Goodchild, said he stopped at Hamilton Road. and two women alighted. After the second woman had alighted, she stepped back, as if to avoid something. He saw the motor-car, which swerved toward the pavement and struck something. After the impact he saw a woman in mid-air-level with the motor-car. She fell

fon the roadway about two or three I yards in front of the tram, which had been stopped about half a minute before the impact. Visibility was good from his point of view. ! To Mr. Sullivan, witness said he had no reason to suppose the “stop” sign at the back of the tram was not working. The conductor on the tramcar. Albert Mason, said his attention was attracted by a motor-car dashing past at a very fast speed when the tram was stationary. Witness swung out from the platform, and saw the motor heading for a tree, and a woman’s body falling to the roadway. He went to the woman’s assistance. Corroborative evidence was given by ; Harry Webb, storeman, of Ponsonby, who also said the driver of the motorcar was perfectly sober. That the deceased was struck by the right side, toward the back, of the motor-car. was the version given by Fanny Mason, who followed Mrs. Clarke off the tramcar. Witness said she saw the motor running on its two left wheels, the two right wheels being oft’ the ground, and heard a skidding noise. Dr. Cedric John Charles Britton, of the Auckland Hospital. defined deceased’s injuries on her admission to hospital and stated that she died threequarters of an hour later, death being due to severe shock, and internal injuries. Another passenger on the tramcar, Nita Austin, stated that Mrs. Clai'ke was struck by the front of the motor-car. Irving Clarke, wholesale grocer, of Ardmore Road, Ponsonby, and husband of the deceased, stated that be was travelling on the second tramcar, and at the Hamilton Road stop, when he was ready to alight, observed a motor-car rush by. travelling at an excessive speed. (Proceeding.)