Supreme Court FARMER CHARGED WITH FATAL NEGLIGENCE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28658, 7 August 1958, Page 18

Supreme Court FARMER CHARGED WITH FATAL NEGLIGENCE

A man whose wife was fatally injured in a collision between two cars on the Main South road on May 27 was charged in the Supreme Court yesterday with negligent driving causing her death. He was Eldred Treleaven Grigg, aged 65, a farmer, and chairman of the Ashburton County Council.

The collision, which occurred on a rise in the road near Rakaia, was attributed by the defence to the puncture of a tubeless tyre and the locking of a brake on Grigg’s car, and the restricted visibility resulting from the different levels of the road.

Mr C. M. Roper, with him Mr P. F. Feenstra. prosecuted for the Crown. Grigg was represented by Mr R. A. Young, with him Mr P. G. S. Penlington. About 11.30 a.m. on May 27 Grigg was driving north along the Main South road between Ashburton and Rakaia, said Mr Feenstra. He was behind a Post and Telegraph Department truck which was travelling about 30 miles an hour and was approaching a “hump” which partly obscured the road ahead. .A continuous white line .on the road indicated that passing was prohibited. Wrong Side of Road

Grigg pulled to the centre ot the road and when his car and the truck had reached the brow of the “hump” he was on the wrong side of the road. He saw another car approaching in the opposite direction and tried to pull back behind the Post and Telegraph truck but his car went into a skid and he lost control, said Mr Feenstra. The other car was on the correct side of the road with its left side wheels on the grass verge when the collision occurred, Mr Feenstra said. The accused’s wife, Ellen Jane Grigg, who was a passenger in his car, was taken to the Ashburton Hospital suffering from injuries from which she died the same day. There was a 22ft tyre burn mark on the roadway, said counsel. Evidence was given by Melville Nogi Smith, a farmer, who was the driver of the other car involved in the collision. He said he was travelling south about 50 miles an hour and was approaching the rise when a truck appeared followed by a car which was partly on the wrong side of' the road. The car, which was about 30 to 40 yards behind the triick, veered sharply to its left and went into a skid. Witness said he had applied his brakes and pulled off the bitumen when Grigg’s car came out of the skid and shot straight across the road. At the time of the accident the weather was fine but there was a slight glare off the road surface, he said. To Mr Young witness said that when he first saw Grigg’s car it was straddling the centre line of the road. Re-examined by Mr Roper, Smith agreed that when Grigg’s car swung to the left it appeared to have been a controlled movement. Counsel for Defence Opening the case for the defence Mr Young said that the defence adopted in its entirety the evidence adduced by the Crown and commended the prosecuting counsel and witnesses for the impartial manner in which the evidence was presented. Grigg had attempted to overtake a slow-moving truck and there was no doubt that his car

was astride the centre line. But becatise of the peculiar undulations on that section of the road he could not see ahead and went back on to his correct side of the road. When Grigg applied his brakes only the right front wheel gripped and the car slewed across the road and struck Smith’s car.

“Maybe the publicity attending on this case will induce the powers-that-be to take this danger point away,” said Mr Young. “If the Main Highways Board was to take 2ft off the top of the rise it would remove this danger spot.” Although he could not blame tubeless tyres for the accident it was clear that there was a fault between the tyre and the rim of the right front wheel through which air could have escaped, Mr Young said. The burn marks on the road indicated that the tyre might have’gone flat and dragged the car across to the right after the brakes had been applied. John Murphy, a consulting engineer and surveyor, demonstrated with models ihow two cars approaching the rise' would be invisible to each other from about 200 ft on either side of the crest. Because the grade on one side was steeper than on the other Smith would have been able to see Grigg’s car before Grigg could have seen the other vehicle. The estimated reaction time of the drivers would represent about 50ft in distance. The trial will continue this morning.