BUS ACCIDENT OX WEST COAST

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25732, 18 February 1949, Page 8

BUS ACCIDENT OX WEST COAST

INQUEST CONCLUDED “NEED FOR INSPECTION OF VEHICLES” (P.A.) WESTPORT, February IT. Evidence given by occupants of the bus indicated that the accident had certainly not been caused by speeding, said the Coroner, Mr C. H. Thomas, J.P., at the inquest to-day into the deaths of Dorothy Petrie, a married woman, and Alfred Nuttall, as a result of an accident to i Railway Road Services bus on the Karamea road on November 27. A verdict was returned in both cases that the deceased died from injuries caused by an accident to a bus driven by John Samuel Kelly. Mr-M. B. Scully appeared for the relatives of the victims, and Mr H. A. E. Maitland (Crown solicitor) for the Railways Department. Examinations Recommended The Coroner said that he would recommend that public vehicles carrying passengers, especially in the Buller aistact where roads were difficult, shoWd’We springs removed at definite intervals aftir certain mileages. The springs, "U”- bolts, and other parts should then be examined. Where such parts Were liable to tIH effects of water cracks or crystallisattDß. it was essential that they should be inspected regularly. Three mechanics, v/h® giving - evidence, were definite that, sudi defects could not be found by ordinary said the Coroner. t Driver's Evidence Kelly, the driver of the bus, said that he had been employed as a driver by the Railways Department since June, 1947. and since then had been over all the routes in the district. On the day of the accident, there were 28 people, including himself, in the bus. The weather wM good and visibility was clear. The bus did not give any trouble on the journey. He estimated the speed after running down the straight from Taffytown Hill at between 25 and 30 miles an hour. Half-way along the straight he felt “s bit of a bump” in the steering, and the bus veered to the left. He went to give the bus “everything to the right.” but it would not answer. “As I pulled to the right I applied the brakes, but the steering failed to respond and the bus went off the road and almost immediately went over a severe bump. I think t\at this may have knocked my foot from the brake, as the vehicle did not show any sign of pulling up.” said Kelly. He added that the bump occurred after he had passed a pot-hole. He called out to the passengers, and then the bus hit the