SERIES OF MOTOR ACCIDENTS

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 181, 28 April 1924, Page 6

SERIES OF MOTOR ACCIDENTS

CITY TRAFFIC INSPECTOR BADLY INJURED HOME-BOUND RACEGOERS ON HUTT ROAD MANY NARROW ESCAPES A series of motor accidents occurred on the Hutt Road on Saturday. As a result of one at Kaiwarra, the City Council's senior traffic inspector now lies in the hospital in a critical condition. It is stated that the speed by-laws were openly flouted and many motorists used the new bitumen surface as a racing track.

It was only natural to suppose that there would be heavy motor traffic on the Hutt Road on Saturday, owing to the races at Trentham, and the lack of railway transport. and tho chief motor inspector (Mr. L. S. r Drake) placed inspectors on duty at Kaiwarra and Ngahauranga to prevent speeding through these townships. For this work the senior traffic inspector (Mr. W. Cross) was stationed at Kaiwarra, and Inspector Haseldeu at Ngahauranga. Whilst the daylight held the inspectors were able to control the traffic fairly satisfactorily, but in the dusk of the evening their task was not quite so easy. Between 5 and 6 p.m., with the rain coming smartly down at intervals, the light failed very quickly, and many car drivers in the long procession took advantage of the fact to speed up. It was in attempting to check the speed of one of these cars that Mr. Cross met with a serious accident. He was out in the road doing his utmost to restrain tho "road hoggers, when a flying Essex car, travelling at a considerable rate of speed, flashed out to the right of the line of cars, and the driver, who is said to have taken no notice of the upraised hand, continued on his course, knocking Mr. Cross with great violence to the ground. The speed of the offending car is said to have been excessive, and after the accident the car proceeded on its way to the citv. It stopped, however, about 100 yards'further on. when two passengers alighted to render assistance, but when they went back to find the driver of the car, he had disappeared. Immediately the . whole or the traffic was held up whilst the injurecl man was lifted from tho contra of Hie road to the footpath, and within a few minutes there was a line of stationary cars extending from Kaiwarra back to Ngaliauranga.

Injured Man in Bad Way. Mr. Cross was examined by Dr. Morice. and it was found that, both his legs were broken, and he was suifering from slight concussion of the brain. Dr. Morice could do little more than order the attendance of the ambulance from the city, and in it the sufferer was removed to the Wellington Hospital, where it was found tha. there was a compound fracture oi the one leg, and a simple fracture of the other, together with slight concussion of the brain, as the result of the hurt to fils head. • . . , Mr. Cross was conscious at inteivals after the accident, and was quite conscious yesterday morning. At a late hour last night he was reported to be in a critical condition. He is a married man, 44 years ot age, and resides in Moana Road, Kelbuin. He has been in the employ of the council for some time, and was previously in charge of the tramways at Gisborne.

ANOTHER MAN INJURED Another accident which might easily have had fatal consequences took place in the Gorge between Taita and Silverstream. but as it was, the cai which contained a number of men, merely capsized and the occupants, who were obviously returning from a sueessful day at Trentham. were able to sort themselves out and number off from the right” in true military fashion. £ Mason’s Gardens was the scene o. another accident when Mr. A. Gillies, residing at 144 Sydney Street, was knocked down while standing on the side of the road endeavouring to assist another motorist who was in ditficulties: He was rendered unconscious and was removed to his home in the ambulance. NARROW ESCAPES To show that there was more than one car in a hurry on Saturday evening Traffic Inspector Haselden received a bump from a passing car whilst on duty at Ngaliauranga, and but for his alertness in moving quickly might have shared the fate of his fellow officer. , , It is also reported that a lad>, in alighting from a car held up near Ngahauranga by a puncture, was very nearly knocked flying bv a rushing car Her dress was actually swished by the travelling car’s running Iward and had she been two or three inches further on the road she must have been thrown violently to tho ground and perhaps killed.