Second, Accident Since Change

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31762, 20 August 1968, Page 4

Second, Accident Since Change

W. Hastie, who is employed by the Riccarton trainer, J. L. Barr, was admitted to the Christchurch Public Hospital yesterday morning with head injuries, the result of an accident on the way to the track. Hastie was riding one horse and leading another when both horses were apparently frightened by a loaded sheep truck turning from Yaldhurst Road into Racecourse Road. Hastie was pulled out of the saddle by the lead-horse. He was dragged and knocked unconscious when his head struck a telegraph post This is the second accident, involving horses, at the same corner within a few days. Last Friday morning a young lad was taken to hospital after injuring an ankle when a horse reared and pitched him into the ditch.

Previously horse traffic approaching the track from the east was able to keep to the left hand side of the road at this corner. Now a series of concrete blocks laid in a half-circle out from the curb

has reduced the width of the roadway by almost a third. The purpose of this experiment, being carried out by the Paparua County Council, is to cut down the speed of vehicular traffic turning left from Yaldhurst Road into Racecourse Road. The move has seemingly been made with little thought to highspirited horses or their riders who can be in trouble when conditions get cramped.