CAR DRIVER IN COURT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1039, 1 August 1930, Page 16

CAR DRIVER IN COURT

SEQUEL TO DOUBLE FATALITY CHARGE OF NEGLIGENCE Press Association WELLINGTON, Thursday. The deaths of Norman Webb Cook and his wife, Violet Amelia Cook, as the result of a motor accident on the Ngahauranga Gorge Road on the afternoon of Sunday, April 13, were recalled in the Supreme Court today, when Alfred Edward Storey stood his trial on a charge of having negligently driven a motor-car. and thereby caused tho deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Cook. The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. P. S. Macassev, with him Mr. C. E. Scott, conducted the prosecution. Storey was represented by Mr. H. H. Cornish and Mr. X. Foden. Dr. W. F. Shirer said he arrived at the scene of the accident shorty after it occurred* Mrs. Cook was dead. Mr. Cook was in a serious condition, and ho died within a short time of his admission to the hospital. Alfred M. Fletcher, licensed surveyor, employed by the Public Works Department, produced a plan of the scene of the accident, and gave a description of the road and the hill face. The width of the bitumen was between 20ft and 21ft. At the corners there was a white line on the bitumen. If the accused had been on his correct side of the road just prior to the accident, his range of vision would have been 110 ft by actual road distance. The further over a motorist was on his wrong side of the road the less would be his range of vision. SCENE OF ACCIDENT VIEWED The Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, and the jury inspected the scene of the accident. Arthur Coffin said his car was fourth in a line of cars, which were moving at about 15 miles an hour. Accused’s car was fifth, and as witness approached the bend accused's car moved up abreast, going about 20 miles an hour, to the right of the white centre line. Then witness saw Mr. Cook’s car coming to the bend, well into the bank on its correct side of the road. He o-nlv heard the impact of the collision. It would have been impossible to avoid it. To Mr. Cornish: He was surprised to see the car go down tho bank, and he thought it an extraordinary consequence of the collision. Evidence on similar lines was given by Mrs. Coffin and another driver who was going the same way. Arthur F Bailey said Mr. Cook was a motorist of three years’ experience, and was quite normal when he saw him before the accident. The case was adjourned.