Inquests Into Two Tractor Fatalities

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32120, 16 October 1969, Page 10

Inquests Into Two Tractor Fatalities

Inquests into the deaths of ; two men who had died in 1 separate accidents involving tractors which had overturned in hill country in the : Cheviot area were concluded in the Coroner’s Court at Rangiora thiss week. The Coroner (Mr A. C ■ Fraser) found that John Buchanan Riddell, aged 42, of Temuka, died on August 16 at Riversdale Fann, Parnassus, the cause of death being multiple internal injuries suffered when the wheel tractor he was driving went out of control and plunged down a cliff. Keith George Latimer said! that he was travelling on the! platform of a wheel tractor! driven by Mr Riddell along the top of a hill. The trac-i tor was turned to travel downhill when it hit a bump after! a short distance. He was; thrown off, suffering chest! and back injuries. The tractor had then; travelled down to a farm ' road, plunged through a fence, and continued over a! grass plateau for 190 ft, and! crashed 95ft down a 30 de-! gree bank, said Constable H. j C. Hollander in evidence. The tractor overturned front 1 first, and passed over Mr Rid-I dell’s body in its downwards ’ plunge. John Stuart Davis, 21 years, of Cheviot, was found to have died on July 22 at I “Pakihi,” Cheviot R.D. 2, the cause of death being severe internal injuries suffered when the crawler tractor he was driving overturned on a hillside and he was crushed under giant discs. Robert Edwards McFadden said that Mr Davis had been ploughing under contract on his property. When Mr Davis ;had not returned from work by 5.45 p.m. the witness went out and found him in . a gully pinned beneath the ■ discs.

Constable Hollander said the tractor had overturned after travelling along a small bank, rolled over 360 degrees,

and moved forward about 3ft on its tracks before stopping. He said that at the beginning of a sweep along the side of the hill the slope was 37 degrees, increasing to 41 degrees. From this point the tractor had maintained a forward movement for lift, where the slope increased to an angle of 50 degrees, and had then overturned. The discs on a rotating tongue on the draw-bar of the tractor did not overturn. He said it was assumed that Mr Davis had either jumped off or was thrown off the tractor when it overturned, landing on rough, disced ground, Jand was caught up in the (discs as the tractor rolled.