SAFETY FIRST

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 219, 16 June 1925, Page 5

SAFETY FIRST

RULES MUST BE OBSERVED ; CORONER’S ADVICE TO MOTORISTS A FATAL ACCIDENT I ■ The necessity for drivers of motor Vehicles exercising the utmost care qnd observing in their entirety the rules for the safety of pedestrian traffic, was emphasised by the Coroner (Mr. W. G. Riddell, S.M.), yesterday, at the inquest touching the death of a widow, Mrs. Ann Champion, who succumbed to injuries received in a motor-cycle accident in Kent Terrace on the evening of June 4. The police were represented at the Inquiry by Senior-Detective Cameron, and Mr. W. B. Leicester watched proceedings on behalf of the driver of the cycle Evidence was given by Mr. R. J. Maunsell that deceased was admitted to the hospital in an unconscious condition. An operation was performed, but she succumbed to her injuries on June 7, death being due to brain damage. Hart Langdon, a baker, residing in Brougham Street, said -he saw part of the accident. A collisiort took place between a pedestrian a motor-cycle, the machine travelling about fifty yards after the accident, before a veranda post brought it to a standstill. The cycle and attache 1 side-car overturned, and witness saw deceased lying on the footpath. He could not .-ar whether the driver was with the machine when it struck the post, but he had seen the ■woman in the side-car waving her arms after the impact with the pedestrian. The lights in the vicinity were not particularly good William Elijah Edwards, a tram conductor, Said he was crossing Kent Terrace at the Pirie Street intersection, at about 8.15 p.m., and was struck by something. He remembered no more until he was removed from under the cycle, which had carried him some distance along the road. Witness was able to proceed home with the aid of a friend. When crossing the road he had looked both ways, but saw no traffic. Senior-Detective Cameron: Did the driver speak to you afterwards ? Witness: “Yes; he said he was very sorry. I asked him if he blew his horn, and'he said, ‘No*. He said he did not see me until he was on top of me." Witness added that the 'ntersection was rather dimly lighted. The Driver’s Account. The final witness was the driver, of the cycle, a single man named Linn Fuller Thetford, who lives at 31. Bridge Street, Kilbimie. He said that he was the holder of a driver’s certificate, and that the machine was in good running order and carried a horn and headlight. When the accident accurred he was returning, in company with deceased, from Willis Street to Coromandel Street, Newtown, via Courtenay Place. He proceeded up Kent Terrace on his right side at about 15 miles per hour, and as Pirie Street was approached he saw the tram conductor some ten yards away, and about a third, of the way across the road from the Pirie Street footpath. Witness closed the throttle of the machine and took a swerve, but the man started to run towards the machine as though in an endeavour to beat it to the other side. Thereupon witness threw out the clutch and applied the brakes. The cycle had practically stopped when it struck the pedestrian, who came in contact with a point of the side-chair. The cycle was lighted at the time. Witness had not noticed any traffic on the road. The' Coroner: You did not blow the horn ? Witness: No. I found it too late to blow the horn. What happened when you struck him ? —“I. was thrown off the bike." How could that happen ?—“The only way I can account for it is that when the- man fell he touched the clutch pedal. The jar of the machine leaping forward threw me off mv balance back- • wards. The machine jumped forward after it struck Edwards.” Flave you ever fallen off before ?—“I have had one or two slight spills.” Continuing, witness said that the next thing he saw was the machine running over the footpath and turning “sideways up.” Witness had regained his feet and followed the cycle, which was moving fairly fast. When he reached it deteased had been thrown out of the side-chair. Replying to Mr. Leicester, witness said he was engaged to deceased’s daughter and was to have been married to-morrow. \The corner where the accident happened was not well lighted, and the night was rather dim. The Rules of the Road. The Coroner observed that the evidence disclosed a peculiar form of accident. The facts emphasise the necessity for drivers of motor-cycles and motor-cars observing the rule of the road, and all the rules for the Safety , of the public when crossing intersections, or travelling m streets where there was no traffic at the time. Drivers must always have in mind, firstly, that they must keep to the left; secondly, to travel at a reasonable pace; thirdly, to sound the horn when approaching street corners; and, fourthly, when travelling at night, to have the vehicle properly lighted. “ There may be one or two others that have also to be observed,” added the Coroner. “Here we have a young man travelling down Kent Terrace without a single vehicle in sight, Fiftcen miles per hour is not a great speed if the coast is clear. At the intersection of pirie Street one solitary pedestrian is met, and there is a collision. that’s a thing that should not happen. The pedestrian savs he saw nothing whatever. If the motorcycle driver had his lights on the pedestrian should have seen them if he bad looked up and down the street. I hat people don t always look up and down a street is well-known. There is no evidence that there were no lights on the cycle. The driver did not sound his horn because he considered be was too close to Edwards when he caught sight of him. If he bad sounded his horn as a precautionary measure Edwards should have heard it.”

Continuing, the Coroner remarked that it was the usual rule for a vehicle to pass behind a pedestrian, but Thetford had swerved to the right, as he considered that a turn in the other direction might have upset the machine. When there was the prospect of a collision he did all he could do. “Then an extraordinary thing happens,” added His Worship. "According to the driver, the machine suddenly took a lurch forward and threw him off his balance. ft then setoff on its own power, with Edwan’s jammed between the machine and the side-chair. It seems to me that Rdwards got off very lightly. '1 lie car travelled along for fifty yards, struck a veranda post, overturned, and threw the woman on to the street. The whole facts should impress on drivers the absolute necessity of taking the greatest care.” The Coroner’found that deceased died from the effects of injuries received through being accidently thrown out of a side-chair in Kent Terrace.