NEED FOR CARE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 117, 19 May 1936, Page 10

NEED FOR CARE.

CROSSING STREETS. ELDERLY PEOPLE'S DEATHS. COMMENT BY THE CORONER. The conclusion that the death of two elderly pedestrians who had been struck by motor cars in Auckland was due to their own actions was arrived at by Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., at coronial inquiries held yesterday afternoon. Commenting on the death of Mr 3. Mary Jane Clarke, aged 70, a widow, who was knocked down in Khyber Pass Road on April 15, Mr. Wilson said that th.; accident seemed to have been one in which the only person to blame was the lady herself. "She seems to have run out in front of the car, thinking she could get in front, and she gave no opportunity to the driver to avoid her. "I cannot too strongly stress the need for people, especially elderly people, to exercise care at night when traffic lights and street lights are very apt to be confusing,", said the coroner. "She was an elderly lady, and I suppose her sight was defectice, for she wore glasses, and she was probably deceived as to tha speed of the car. It is a golden rule never to run across a highway. If there is not time to get across without running, then one should wait." / "Here again we have evidence that the driver was driving in a perfectly reasonable manner, but apparently this old man stepped out from the without looking,',' Mr. Wi'son said latelr at an inquest into the death of Mr. John Riddcll, aged 70, who suffered fatal injuries when knocked down by a motor car in Pitt Street on May 13. "I do not know how accidents of this kind arc to be avoided unless there is some control of pedestrian traffic," he added. "The old age Of slow-moving traffic has passed and vehicles now travel rapidly. We must realise that. In large cities there are places where people cross while the traffic is held up, but I do not know whether traffic in this city has reached a sufficient intensity for this. At certain places there is control by traffic officers, but this is possible only at important intersections. As the matter is at present, extreme care must be exercised."