"TURNS IN THE HEAD."

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 276, 22 November 1927, Page 10

"TURNS IN THE HEAD."

BUS DRIVER'S COMPLAINT. N

REASON FOR FATAL CRASH.

OPEN VERDICT RETURNED.

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, Monday.

"Hie question whether the driver was guilty 6f negligence could be tested in another- place," said the -coroner, Mr. W. G. Riddell, S.M.. in giving liis verdict at the inquest into the death of Mrs. Annie Eleanor Watson. She was one of twelve passengers, all women, in a bus driven by John O'Callaghan, which left the Hutt Road bitumen track and struck a telegraph post.

Evidenee showed that the bus travelled for" 108 ft between leaving the bitumen traek and striking the post, and 48ft after the impact.

Motor mechanics g> evidence of having examined the bus Jind found the steering gear in good order. ".Wheel Slipped from Hand." A .patrol constable said there were no signs of the brakes having been applied between the time of leaving tiie bitumen and striking the post. The driver, when spoken to after the accident, was perfectly normal. He' said the wheel slipped out of his-hand. He-did not complain about having had any illness.

John O'Callaghan, driver of the bus, said he could-give no explanation of how the smash occurred. He had held a license to drive since September, 1926, but in May last went to a sanatorium for 10 weeks. He resumed work on October 14, three days before the accident. He would have turns in the head for a second or two, but would not faint. Before the smash he was all right. He did not know that the bus had left the bitumen. A doctor, had told him that his head turns were caused by fluid , on the lungs. Witness said his eyesight wa-s good. He never told his employers about his complaint. Not Fit to Be Driving.

Medical evidence was given that on the day of the crash O'Callaghan was not physically fit to be driving the bus, as be was subject to turns, which would last for a lew t seconds.

The coroner delivereu an open verdict. He said that had medical evidence not shown O'Callaghan was subject to turns, it would have looked as if the bus had been negligently driven. The accident was most extraordinary. He found that deceased died as the result of injuries received through a bus in which she was riding, driven by John O'Callaghan, coming into contact with a telegraph pole on the Hutt Road on October 17.