MOTOR ACCIDENTS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 82, 31 December 1929, Page 9

MOTOR ACCIDENTS

MISHAP TO WELLINGTON PARTY THREE LADIES INJURED Dominion Special Service. Wairakei, December 80. A motoring party, which left Wellington on Christmas Day, had a sensational experience to-day. While motoring from Rotorua to Wairakei, the car in which they were travelling, had occasion to move out to the edge of the road in order to allow another car to pass. The edga of the road gave way, and the car fell down an 80 foot precipice, turning four complete somersaults on its flight down the face of the cliff. The car was driven by Mr. J. Williamson, of the publishing staff of “The Dominion,” Wellington, who miraculously escaped without injury. The other members of the party, all of whom ar* residents of Wellington, were not so fortunate. The injured were: — Mrs. Williamson, fractured shoulder. Mrs.' Lockwood, fractured jaw. Mrs. Coop, head injuries. The accident occurred at 5.50 o’clock this afternoon, and the injured ladies were conveyed to the Rotorua Hospital • to-night. The car was completely wrecked. FATALITY NEAR GREYTOWN DUNEDIN PAINTER KILLED • Dominion Special Service. ' Greytown, December 30. One man was' killed and three other persons injured when a motor-car, apparently striking a water table, turned a complete somersault at Greytown yesterday. The man killed was John Daniell Randle, painter, of Roslyn, Dunedin, who was driving. The injured were: Mrs. M. Edward, of Gisborne, sister of the driver, who is suffering from bruises, and severe shock; Claude Edward, son of Mrs. Edward, and Miss Alice Osborne, of Gisborne, both of whom are suffering from leg injuries. It appears that the party was proceeding from Gisborne to Wellington, en route to Dunedin, and had left Masterton, where they stopped overnight, t about 10 o’clock in the morning. They reached Greytown about 11.30 o’clock, and when near the Greytown Fruitgrowing Co.’sc property on the main road, the car left the asphalt, and struck a water table. When the driver attempted to bring it back on the road it turned a complete somersault, landing on its wheels again. The driver sustained terrible injuries to his head, and was killed instantly, and the other occupants of the car were injured more or less severely. The occurrence seems to have been purely accidental, for the car, it is reported, was travelling at a moderate speed. Deceased, who was 47 years of age, was to have met his wife in Christchurch to-morrow. Inquest Opened. This morning an inquest was opened before the District Coroner, Mr. E. G. Eton. Claude Henry John Edward, who was a passenger In the back seat with Miss Osborne, gave evidence that the car was travelling at a moderate pace. The car had run off the road, and deceased had applied the brakes sharply when the vehicle had overturned, crushing deceased’s head. As both the lady passengers were taken to the Greytown Hospital, the inquest was adjourned till their evidence is available. Both are progressing favourably. CRASH DOWN HILLSIDE By Telegraph. —Press Association. Napier, December 29. A car containing Walter Edwin Brightwell, a farmer, of Tauranga, his wife, two daughters and three sons, skidded and rolled 300 feet down a slope, after 'colliding with another car on the Turangakumu Hill, on the Na-pier-Taupo road. Mrs. Brightwell suffered serious injuries and is in a grave condition in the Napier Hospital. The daughters, aged four and sixteen, are also in hospital, but their injuries are not serious. ' Brightwell and three sons were practically uninjured. CAR AND LORRY COLLIDE By Telegraph.—Press Association. Dannevirke, December 30. A collision occurred at Terehunga on Sunday morning between a motor-car driven by Mr. Tom Hermanson, farmer, of Maharahara. who had with him his wife and four children, and a cream lorry owned by the Tamaki Dairy Company and driven by Lewis Enoch Nikolaisen. The collision occurred at a blind corner. The car was wrecked and the lorry capsized. The occupants of the car escaped serious injury. The ear turned over, landing on the hood. It had to be jacked up to release the driver’s wife, who was uninjured, but suffered from shock. Mr. Hermanson and two young sons suffered minor injuries. The latter are at present in hospital. The others escaped unharmed. SMASH AT ASHHURST. Dominion Special Service. Palmerston North, December 30. A car containing six passengers, driven by Mr. Joseph Stone, of Argyle Avenue, Palmerston North, last night collided with another car driven by Mr. Thomas Currie, of . Ashhurst, near the Ashhurst Railway Station. Mr. and Mrs. Stone were admitted into the Palmerston North Hospital, the former suffering from hip injuries, and the latter from bruises and shock.-The others escaped serious injury.