DRIVER CRITICISED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 238, 8 October 1935, Page 11

DRIVER CRITICISED.

NORTH SHORE FATALITY. COMMENT BY CORONER. Severe criticism of the evidence of the driver of a motor car was made by tho coroner, Mr. Wyvern Wilson, at tho inquest yesterday afternoon into the death of Mrs. Violet Rush, Takapuna, who died in the hospital on August 29, following injuries received when she was knocked down by a car driven by Douglas Arthur Brodie, rangemaker, of Takapuna. The accident happened near the intersection of Victoria Road and Everslcigh Road, Devonport. In returning a formal verdict the coroner remarked that four vehicles were on the road when Mrs. Rush attempted to cross. Three drivers had described in the witness box how they had seen her. The foyrth, Brodie, had said he did not see her. He said also that she had come out from behind two cars going in the opposite direction to his. The evidence of the other three drivers showed that was incorrect. There was no reason why Brodie should not have seen her had he been keeping a good look-out.

There were good brakes on Brodie's car and he had pulled tip in a car length. The only evidence of speed was in the statement of a bus driver that Brodie passed him at a speed of 35 to 40 miles an hour. That must have been the speed which he was doing when he hit Mrs. Rush, for she was picked up 10 feet in front of his cai and must have suffered a severe blow.

Evidence was given by Brodie and other witnesses that the accident happened at twilight on a road bordered on one side by a high hedge and the other by poplars and that the woman crossed the road diagonally with her head down into a strong wind.