FATAL ACCIDENTS AT CROSSINGS

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26032, 8 February 1950, Page 8

FATAL ACCIDENTS AT CROSSINGS

INQUESTS COMPLETED YESTERDAY

NO BLAME ATTACHABLE TO TRAIN CREWS”

Three inquests into deaths from accidents involving trains were held before the Coroner (Mr Raymond Ferner) yesterday. “Fyfe was seen 50 yards away and the engine whistle was sounded not

once but twice. He seems not to have taken heed. We have had evidence that he had good sight and hearing and it seems difficult to understand how the accident could have happened,” said the Coroner at the conclusion of the inquest into the death of Robert Arthur Fyfe, aged 60, a railway employee. A formal verdict was returned that Fyfe died from a fractured dislocation of the neck, sustained when he was struck by a train while he was cleaning points in the Addington railway station yard on November 15, 1949.

At the inquest into the death of John Donald Mclnnes, aged 67, a retired farmer, who was killed in a level crossing accident, the Coroner said he was prepared to infer that Mclnnes -lid not see the train or hear its whistle. The strong wind at the time might have been responsible for his not hearing the whistle, particularly as the car window was closed against the weather, A verdict was returned that Mclnnes died on August 18, 1949, from haemorrhage and shock due to multiple injuries sustained when the motor-car he was driving was struck by a train at the Factory road level crossing, Belfast. “No blame appears to attach to the train crew,” added the Coroner. Evidence was given that Edward James Mills, aged 19, an aircraftman, approached the Sockburn level crossing at a fast speed on his motor-cycle on the night of November 17, 1949. and apparently failed to see either the signals of the crossing keeper or an approaching rail-car until too late to avoid a collision. The Coroner said the cause of the accident appeared to be Mills’ failure to stop and give way to the rail-car. He returned a verdict that Mills died on November 17. the cause of death being haemorrhage and shock from multiple injuries received when the mofor-cycle he was riding came into collision with the Ross-Christ-church rail-car on the Sockburn level crossing about 11.10 p.m. on November 17. “No blame appears to be attached to the rail-car crew or to the crossing keeper,” added the Coroner. Found Dead in Car William Arthur Gribble, aged 65, a contractor, who was found dead in his motor-car on Cashmere Hills on November 17, 1949, was found to have died from heart failure aqd that this was the cause of his car running off Dyers Pass road and over the bank. Dr. G. C. T. Burns, a pathologist at the Christchurch Public Hospital, gave a report on his post-mortem examination of the body and said that, in his opinion, the cause of Gribble’s death was heart failure due to myocardial degeneration. To the Coroner, Dr. Burns said he considered that it Was the heart failure that caused the car to run off the road. It was possible that Gribble was dead, or within a moment or two of death, when the car left the road. That would account for the lack of loss of blood for there was an absence of any marked haemorrhage from the severed large veins in the neck. It was his considered opinion that Gribble died from a heart attack. The Coroner said that the fact that there was no great haemorrhage from the injuries was consistent with the fact that Gribble was alreadv dead when injured. He was led to the conclusion that Gribble died from heart failure. and the accident was consequent upon that. A verdict was returned in accordance with the medical evidence. Other Verdicts Other verdicts returned by the Coroner, in accordance with medical evidence, were:—v Ronald John Campbell Hodgen, aged 47. an invalidity pensioner, died on November 15. 1949. from heart failure due to chronic 'valvular disease of the heart accelerated by a fracture of the ieft hin and gross spinal deformity, the fracture of the hio being sustained when he accidentally fell from his ’-'icycle at Motukarara on November Mary Ritchie, aged 74, a widow, who collapsed at the Christchurch railway station, died on November 16. 1949. from senile degeneration of the heart. Bradleieh Crowhurst, aged 65. a dentist, died on September 18, 1949, from circulatory failure due to coronary occlusion. Adjourned The inquest into the death of Cecil Ronald Hunnibell. aged 44, a carpenter, was adjourned until February 23 to enable Dr. J. W. Ardagh to give evidence. Dr. G. C. T. Burns, a pathologist at the Christchurch Public Hospital, said that, in his opinion, the cause of death was respiratory failure while under an anaesthetic administered during an operation for a perforated duodenal ulcer. , , , Sergeant L. P. Ricketts conducted proceedings for the police in each case.