INQUEST STORY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 15, 24 May 1939, Page 5

INQUEST STORY

WOMAN'S DEATH IN MOTOR

ACCIDENT

-SEARCH FOR SMALL CAR

FAILS

Allegations that they had been fore ced off the road by a car ? described by -one witness as a small blue or black ' -car, possibly driven by a man, with several companions and by another --as a small Morris or a 7 h.p. 1932 model Austin, driven by a man and ■with a young woman a longside him. were made when the adjourned in_ <juest into the death of Ivy Gladys CBrien, married woman j of Te Teko was continued before Mr G. A. Brabajit, J.P., district coroner, at the Whakatane Courthouse, on Tuesday -afternoon. The police stated that they had i made inquiries into the matter, but \ , liad not succeeded in tracing either — the car or the driver allegedly concerned. Mr G. Otley appeared for deceas_ ed's relatives. The first witness was Geoffrey Char r les farmhand, of AAvakeri, •aged 16 years, who said that on Sunday, April .9, he was driving the family car from Ohope to Whaka"tane. As passengers he had six chil_ ■dren, two adults and his baby sister. Sitting in the front seat alongside liim were his brother Leslie, and his with the baby on her knee, sat on the outside. Changed to Second Gear. Just over the loop at Hillcrest he -was driving with the left hand wheels :about a y®rd in from the left-hand .edge of the road. He had changed .down, to second gear near the top and -was driving at about ten miles an * "hour. The reason he was going so -slowly was because his family insisted on it at all times. He did not "touch the accelerator when going «lown the hill. At no time was the ■car out of control. He saw another car coming up the liil'l towards him, on its wrong side •of the road, at a fast speed, about "half a chain away. He sounded the ■horn and the otjjer car shot straight over to its correct side, then it seemed to get out of control ' and shot over on to his side of the road. It Avag coming straight for him. He -thought that he tried to avoid it but from then on he did not really know -what happened, and whether the oth_ <er car struck his car or not. There no mark on the front or his car. Goes Over Bank. The next he remembered was that "he swerved to the right to avoid going over the bank. He was unable to nvoid it. He did not know whether the front or the back wheels went over first. The next thing was the •car was over the bank and lying at the foot. He saw his mother lying with her head jammed between the door and the car. The first person who came along was a man from a nearby garden. His sister sustained a broken arm. This was done at the time of the accident, and not afterwards when they were trying to free "her a.rm, which was jammed between the door and the side of the car. Witness said he had driven at slow speed all the way and sounded liis horn at corners. He remembered passing a small car probably a mile before the spot where the accident occurred. The car wa s travelling in the same direction as he was. No Room to Pass. Pie had no idea what sort of a car it was which had forced him off the road, it came round the corner on liis side of the road and left him no i")ni whatever to pass. He pulled his r almost to a halt when he saw tho other car and drove on, again when the other car went across the road. Then it came back across at ,hirm.« He did not know if he applied his brakes. It all happened so quickly. His car had a warrant of fitness issued a month before. He had a driver's licence issued in September. The other car was coloured black or blue and was a fairly late model. It seemed to be driven by a man. He could not describe the man or anv of the occupants but there seemed to be quite a. good load in it. He did not know Avhether they' were men or women. The other car did not stop.

Its driver;/must have known, his car went over the bank but it was nowhere to be seen on the road after the accident. Passengers Evidence Leslie Daniel O'Brien, farmhand 5 aged 18, said that on the day of th*j accident he was sitting in front between the driver and their mother. He saw a small car coming round a bend and heading towards them. It was on tlie wrong side and not very far away. it stayed on the wrong side until very close, then it skidded across the road on to its correct side, making a, lot of dust. The next inremembered was their car going over the bank. He did not notice if Ins brother swerved to the left. Their car was going about 12 miles an hour and had been going slowly all the way. There was plenty of room in the frbnt seat and they were not cramped. He had one leg on either side of the gear lever a.nd this did not interfere with the use of it by his brother. A small car which came up towards him was either a small black Morri s or an Austin 7 h.p., about 1932 model. There was a young man and a young girl in the front seat„ but he did not know if there was anv one in the back seat. It was*a closed sedan car. When the car came to rest all got out except his mother who was dead. His sister Josephine as the only other one injured. Witness said he hung on to the baby as the car rolled over. He said his brother would have hit the small car if they had not gone over the bank. Police Version. Constable Hugh Hedley said that with Constable Cummings he went to the scene of the accident. The car was resting 561't down a bank, about 100 yards from the top of Hillcrest. He interviewed the driver who was suffering from shock but was perfectly sober. The driver told him that a: small car had forced them over the bank. The police measured tho" marks made by O'Brien's car which had travelled for 10ft on the left-< hand side of the road and then for 36ft to the edge before going over. He had been unable to trace the marks made by the other car alleged.. Iv driven on the wrong side of the road. He produced photos showing the scene of the accident. The grade of the road was a steep one but there was ample room to pass. To Mr Otley he said he saw no skid marks or the wheel tracks of another e« r . There had been too much traffic on the road by that time. Medical Deposition. Robert Rentoul Grigor, medical practitioner, sand he was called to Hillcrest where he found the body of ■\ middle-aged woman lying with its head caught between the roof and the left-hand door. His opinion wa,s that death wardue to asnhvxia, associated with a fracture of tlie base of the skull an'! ce v "»bral lacerations. The girl had a broken arm. The other members of the party were not injured an art from mild concussion some eases. The driver was in a dazed stat". Doctor Grigor said he found no trace of alcohol. The corone- said his business was onlv to find the cause of death. He had nothing to say as far as the accident was concerned. His verdict was deceased suffered death when the car in which she was travelling ran over a, bank on the Ohope-Whakatane Road on Sunday April 9, 1939.