BUS-DRIVER ON TRIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1037, 30 July 1930, Page 1

BUS-DRIVER ON TRIAL

SEQUEL TO HIKURANGI TRAGEDY

CHARGED WITH FATAL NEGLIGENCE

r E Hikurangi level crossing disaster on the evening of April 5, when six passengers of a bus which collided with the tram lost their lives, and four others were seriously injured, was recalled m the Supreme Court today, when the bus-driver, Noel Herbert Wilkinson, was on trial on a charge of negligent driving causing death and injury to the passengers. Mr. Justice Herdman was on the Bench.

The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. V. R. Meredith, prosecuted and Mr. R. A. Singer defended the accused. The accident was an appalling one, Mr. Meredith said, and arising out of it the charge was made that Wilkinson did not exercise sufficient care in the control of the vehicle. Counsel commented that motorists, particularly drivers of motor vehicles carrying passengers, had an onus upon them to take care what they wore doing. There yas no suggestion of insobriety in this case, the simple issue being whether the driver, in making the crossing, was using the care that he tss bound to do. Mr. Meredith impressed upon the .iury that it must review the evidence quite dispassionately and not raturn a verdict hostile to the accused until it was satisfied there was negligence. He pointed out that the jury must not be prejudiced by the appalling results of the accident, nor must it be swayed by sympathy for the accused. Counsel said that the crossing was well known to the driver of the bus and there was a clear view of the line for fully half a mile before reaching the railway line. UNINTERRUPTED VIEW A Public Works Department engineer, Robert R. Menzies, said that flu view of the line from a point 500 yards before reaching the crossing was ill)interrupted, and there was nothing to prevent a driver of a vehicle nearing the crossing from seeing an approaching train. He had made tests at night and noticed that the train could be fully seen from the road. Under cross-examination, the engineer agreed that the road was rough and pot-holey, and narrowed to some extent toward the crossing. The road dipped markedly at one point. Evidence was given that the train comprised three wagons and seven carriages, which were lighted. The vagons were hitched immediately behind the engine. The guard of the train, Charles P. Storey, said that nearing McLeod's crossing he heard the train whistle sounded and then the train stopped suddenly in less than its own length. He noticed after the accident that ihe engine light was burning.

The engine-driver, Arthur Henry Manning, said that the train was about 300 yards from the crossing when he first noticed the headlights of a motor-vehicle coming from Hikurangi. Ho sounded a long blast of the engine whistle immediately and the bus then seemed to be about 120 yards from the crossing. When the train was a chain from the crossing he saw that the bus driver was not going to stop, so he immediately applied the emergency brakes and shut of steam. It was too late, however, and the engine caught the bus between the front and rear wheels. Constable'Farrell, who was a passenser in the train, said that on seeing Wilkinson after the accident he questioned him. Wilkinson, who was very distressed, asserted he had not heard the train whistle. Corroborative evidence was given by the fireman, Douglas E. Scott. A Riponui farmer, William McEwan, who was motoring from Whangarei about the time of the accident, said that when he saw the train half a mile from the scene of the accident it was well lighted. A boy passenger in the bus said that just before the accident two boys were skylarking in seats opposite to two girls. Four others in the back were singing and the girls were talking. “Suddenly Guy Davidson remarked, ‘By gee, I think that’s the train,’ ” said witness, who replied, “By gee, I think it is.” The train was then only 10 yards off the bus. Under cross-examination witness said that no one was sitting near the driver. He did not hear the train whistle and his first glimpse was of a big dark object with the headlight towering over the bus. “I didn’t see any skylarking or hear any singing in the bus,” said Eileen Isobel Trotter, a passenger in the bus. “I looked out and the train was right on us. 1 tried to call to the driver, but I don’t know whether I spoke or not," she added. Bruce Trevor Lichfield, a motormechanic, described Wiukinson as an exceedingly careful driver 'who had not had an accident previously. (Proceeding.)