CROSSING FATALITY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 109, 10 May 1932, Page 9

CROSSING FATALITY

, MASTERTON INQUEST

DRIVER DID NOT SEE TRAIN

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.")

MASTERTON, This Day.

On. 9th April, while, a lorry, fitted with an omnibus top, was conveying a party of young people to a dance at Kaituna, the vehicle collided with the Wellington-Masterton express at a level crossing at Eevall street. The adjourned inquest on Frank Muirhead Gillespie, who was on the lorry and was killed, was continued at Masterton yesterday by the Coroner, Mr. E. G. Eton.

The driver (Sydney Herbert), the fireman (William Ernest Hallo way), and the guard (Edward Furness) of the express train gave evidence to the general effect that the crossing was not a dangerous one, that visibility was good, that the train whistled, that the train's speed was within the regulations, and that application of the emergency, brake had reduced the speed from 45 miles to 40 miles at moment of . impact. The brake stopped the train in its own length. The driver of the lorry did. not seem to ■ see the train. Herbert thought the lorry was going 35 miles an hour.

The driver of the lorry, James Thomas Butherf ora, gave evidence that approaching the crossing he reduced speed from 25 miles to 15 miles. He did npt see the train coming, and it was right on him before he heard the whistle. He could not account for not seeing it. Victor Woodley, Elsie-Saker, Dorothy Elbourne, and six others who were all on the lorry, all gave evidence that they either saw or heard the train coming, but Molly Wishai-t, who was in the cab with the driver, stated that she neither heard nor saw the train till it was..almost on them. It was mentioned that the only means the passengersriii the lorry had of communicating with the driver was I)y knocking on the back of the cab. Some of these witnesses, thought that the lorry accelerated as th<v train bore down; others did not notice .any acceleration. Victor Wooaiey estimated that the lorry was" approaching the crossing at 20 to 25 ; miles an hour. Witness heard the whistle of the train sound a shrill blast,' and it then appeared to him that the driver of the lorry accelerated to try and get' over the crossing before the. train.' ' The lorry was almost across when the train struck it "in the rear, where deceased was sitting. '■'■'/"

A train passenger gave evidence that there was no sign of drink on Rutherford. '■ ..

Sergeant Dyer said that, speaking as a motorist, he. considered the crossing was one of the safest in the Wairarapa.j At a distance of 165 feet from the crossing on , the eastern side it ;was possible to see 1700 feet down, the line. ■ ' > ... ~

The Coroner's verdict was that deceased was killed through dislocation of the neck received in a level-crossing accident. The. Coroner said that visibility was good and a warning had been given by the train. The crossing, to his mind, was not a dangerous one, and the speed of the lorry did not appear to be excessive;. According to the evidence of. .witnesses,: the. driver did not see the, train approach, which, to the lnintl of the Coroner, was negligence. Whether the driver was. or was not in a state of sub-consciousness was hard to. .state,