WOMAN KILLED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1936, Page 19

WOMAN KILLED.

MERCER COLLISION.

EVIDENCE AT INQUEST.

BRAKES ON TRUCK FAIL.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

PUKEKOHE, Friday.

The inquest was concluded at Pukekolie to-day before the district coroner, Mr. C. K. Laurie, J.P., concerning the death of a married woman, Mrs. Frances Mary McLeigh, aged 51, of Kohimarama, Auckland, who suffered fatal injuries when a iive-seater sedan car, ! in which she was a passenger, collided heavily with a large motor truck on the night of May 3, on the Great South Road, about two miles south of Mercer township.

Mr. A. H. Winter represented the husband, Mr. .1. J. Goldstine the insurance companies, and Mr. H. B. Townshend appeared for the driver of the car. The driver of the car, Carl Hubrick, said that he was driving his car along the Great South Road about two miles south of Mercer when he saw the approaching lights of two vehicles. As he passed the first vehicle, the second one, a large truck, shot out to its right and collided with his car. The force of the impact was severe and Mrs. McLeigh, who was a passenger 'in the rear seat of his car, was thrown forward and evidently hit her head on the back of the front seat. At the time of the accident, visibility was good, while the road was dry. Witness said the truck came on to him so suddenly that lie did not have time to apply his brakes until about one second before the collision occurred. He could not say whether the front vehicle, another motor truck, dipped its lights three or four times before passing him. Witness had his lights dipped, having been travelling with them dipped for the whole journey, as they were quite powerful enough that way. Truck Driver's Evidence. The driver ,of the front truck, Victor Lewis Shuter, said he was driving from Auckland to Taumarunui, while the rear truck was driven by Albert Roy Sigley. Witness saw the car approaching at a fairly fast speed, and as the Oncoming lights made it difficult to see the road ie dipped his lights three or four times. The glare of the lights prevented him ,'seeing the road so he slowed down to a ijspced often miles an hour, and when he 'had just passed the car he hcar.d a crash, so he stopped. On going back he ■found that Sigley had collided with the car. Upon asking what had gone wrong, ■Sigley replied that his brakes had gone, and that the right-hand front wheel had locked, causing the truck to_ swerve sharply to the right and collide with the car. Witness said that following the accident he had examined the hydraulic braking system on Sigley's truck and discovered that the pipe carrying the braking fluid had burst, rendering the whole system useless. The whole braking system had been overhauled about a week before the accident and a new copper supply pipe had then been fitted' from the master cylinder to the distributor unit. Albert Roy Sigley said that after the two trucks left Mercer he travelled about ten yards behind Shuter's truck at a speed of 28 miles per hour. About two miles south of Mercer Shuter's truck pulled up suddenly, so witness applied his foot brake and the truck had , pulled up considerably when suddenly ,t?he brake pedal gave way and witness' foot went right down to the floor boards. • Hd immediately applied the hand brake, but- the right-hand front wheel locked and swung the truck to the right, where it collided with the ear.

Constable William, A. T. McGuire said he. was a qualified motor mechanic, and following the accident had examined the truck. He found a punctured oil feed pipe on the hydraulic braking system and produced the pipe. Witness said the truck was only five months old. In returning a verdict of accidental death, the coroner said that Mrs. McLeigh received her injuries in a collision which was purely accidental. The collision had been due to the failure of the braking system of the truck and the locking of its right-hand front wheel.