BUS AND TRAM.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18674, 24 April 1926, Page 7

BUS AND TRAM.

SUIT FOR DAMAGES. STANMORE ROAD COLLISION. A tram-car and an Inter-City bus collided violently at the intersection of Stanmore road and Worcester street, on September Sth, 1925, and the sequel was heard in the Magistrate's Court yesterday before Mr H. Y. Widdowson, S.M. The Inter-City Motor Service, Ltd., claimed from the Chriatchurch Tramway Board, the sum of £ 161 16s. The Board counter-claimed for £37 7s. The Company alleged that the tram had been driven negligently. Mr-C. S. Thomas appeared for the company, and Mr J. D. Hutchison for the Tramway Board. Mr Thomas said that the collision occurred soon after 5.5 p.m. on September Bth, at the corner of Stanmore road and Worcester street. The tram was going out north towards New Brighton, and the bus was coming along Worcester street towards the City. It was ■moving along the tram rails at approximately twelve miles an hour. Stanmore road waa very narrow, and probably the question would arise as to which of the two was the main road. Counsel would submit that Worcester street, with two sets of tram rails, must be regarded as the main one, and that the onus of extra care .was on those on the narrow Stanmore road. Express cars were a law unto themselves and did not stop over crossings. The InterCity bus was slowed down on approaching the corner "to pick up two possible passengers, and then it went slowly over the crossing. The hooter was strongly blasted, as witnesses would say. The driver of it first saw the car when it was about twenty-five yards from the corner, and the bus was then twentyone feet off the crossing. He thought that tho car would pull up or stop at the corner. No- emergency brakes were applied by the tram driver, and the tram hit the rear part of the bus, swinging it in a half arc. That showed that the bus could not have been travelling fast. Counsel mentioned that a youth who took part in cycle racing had made a practice of being paced by the express car, and was riding beside the car on the night of the collision. "Though he is not a Phil O'Shea," said Mr Thomas, "he had to push very hard to keep up with tho tram, and he was lucky that he was not injured. That boy would say he saw the bus when the front of the ear was about fifteen yards away from the crossing, and yet the bus was hit." After the Crash. Other witnesses would say that the hooter was well sounded, and another that the tram did not ease up. That witness slipped out into the road to give warning of an impending accident, but as he saw he would be in the middle of it, ho drew back. He, at once, without request, said to the driver of the bus: "If anything conies of this, 'here is my narilo and- address." Some of the people in the tram, were reading Kewspapers, and would say they noticed nothing unusual until the crash occurred. But if emergency brakes had been used they would havo been jerked in their scats and noticed it. A girl witness would say that the conductor of the tram, immediately after, came through the car, and said: "Did you notice my pal was sounding his gong, and driving slowly!" When told that that was not observed, be added that it meant a lot to his pal's position. Counsel contended that that was an improper way of securing evidence. The Evidence. Andrew Duncan Boag, driver of the bus when the accident took place, said that he was on the left-hand side of the road, with one wheel on tho tramline and one wheel towards the gutter. He slowed down for some people when approaching Stanmore road. No tram was in sight, and he sounded the horn several times as he approached the corner, and was about opposite the corner of the pavement when he first saw the tramcar. He expected the tram to stop at' the crossing. He had been a bus-driver for four years, and he had never known a tram not to stop at the crossing. He put the accelerator hard down, but did not gain much speed, and the collision took place. His bus was struck about the middle .of the rear wheel. He did Aot hear a bell sounded by the tram. At the time there were four trams in his vision. Walter James Jones, motor-driver, of Islington, stated that he was employed on the bus as a conductor. He noticed no decrease in the tram's speed and heard only one gong. There were only threo passengers aboard the bus. He did not know that an express tram left the Square for North Beach.at 5.5 p.m. The tram pushed the bus right round. Bruce Huia Painter, of Christchurch, joiner, a passenger on the bus, said that it took the crossing at eight miles per hour. The horn was sounded three times, but he did not hear a warning

bell from the tram. He felt a ;iolt, and there was a crash of glass. The front of the tram was smashed in and the bus was slewed round. Boag applied his brakes immediately the impact tooK P' ace * A . . Henry James Milligan, of Qnristchurch, carpenter, said that be w * s cycling up Worcester street towards New Brighton at the time. He heard the bus sound its horn, but did notj hear the tram gong. The bus was doing about ten miles an hour. Eobert Pitcaithlv, of Christchurch. carpenter, said that he was on a No. 6 tram, travelling up Worcester street. He saw the accident, and he considered that the speed of the bus was under ten miles an hour. He did not remember hearing either bus or tram sound an alarm, but the tram was travelling faster than the bus. Herbert Mcintosh, City motor inspector, said that if the bus had been travelling at from eight to ten miles an hour, and the tram at from 12 to 16 miles an hour, he would have expected to find the bus in the position in which it was after the impact. Eobert Snell, who was cycling beside the tram, estimated its speed at 20 miles an hour. Further technical evidence was heard, and the case was adjourned until Monday morning.