KNOCKED OVER BY MOTOR-CAR

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21807, 12 June 1936, Page 16

KNOCKED OVER BY MOTOR-CAR

INQUEST ON WOMAN CYCLIST

That Mrs Maude Marie Scrivener, aged 56, of 68 Estuary road, New Brighton, died in the Christchurch Public Hospital on May 20, from a fracture of the base of the skull received when her bicycle was knocked over in Papanui road by a motor-car driven by Colin Watson Carr on the previous evening, was the verdict returned by the coroner, Mr E. C. Levvey, at the inquest yesterday. Mr W. F. Tracy represented the driver of the car, and Mr F. D. Sargent the relatives.

Colin Watson Carr, an engineer, of Riccarton road, said that about 7 o’clock on the evening of the accident, he was driving a motor-car north along Papanui road. When he was at the intersection of Innes road and Papanui road, he collided with a cyclist, who was struck with the front of his car and thrown clear. It was a thick, foggy night and visibility was poor. At the time of the collision his speed would be about 20 miles an hour. He immediately went back and on finding the woman unconscious, asked a passerby to send for the ambulance. He thought the cyclist must have come out of Innes road on his right. To Sub-Inspector D. A. Mac Lean, who conducted proceedings for the police, the witness said only a few feet separated the point of impact from the spot where the woman was picked up. He did not see her until just before the collision took place. He could see from 20 to 25 yards in front of him in the fog. To Mr Tracy, Carr said he slowed down to about 15 miles an hour when he was approaching the intersection. Dr. William Hamilton Simpson, of Heaton street, who attended Mrs Scrivener, said that when he found her he realised she was suffering from a fracture of the skull. The young man who called him in the first place was, he thought, the driver of the car involved, and he was quite sober. Dr. B. E. P. McCullough said that the cause of death was a fracture of the base of the skull. Henry Sutton Scrivener, the husband of the dead woman, said that his wife left home on a bicycle after tea to attend a meeting in a hall in Heaton street or Papanui road. Her bicycle was in good condition.