ANOTHER CASE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 117, 19 May 1937, Page 12

ANOTHER CASE

WILLIS STREET FATALITY

At a second inquest held today another driver, attributed a fatal accident to the dazzling effect of approaching lights. The Coroner (Mr. Gilb'ertson) returned a finding that Robert Barrett, a retired bootmaker, aged 83, died on April 18 as a result of injuries received on April 17, when he was struck by a taxi in upper Willis Street. Comment was made ■by the Coroner on the slippery surface of the roadway between the V.M.C.A. and the Hotel St. George. Eric Andrew Leslie Parker, a'taxidriver, said that when driving up Willis Street, past the V.M.C.A. at a reasonable speed, on the evening of April 17, he saw a man about 15 feet away, and he immediately applied his brakes, but the car skidded on the greasy surface with the result that he knocked the man over. He attributed the cause of the accident to the fact that a car with dazzling lights had just passed him when he saw the man appear suddenly in front of him. Immediately after the accident he and Constable L. B. Vasta tested the brakes of the car. They were found to be in excellent order, yet by the V.M.C.A., when travelling at a speed of 20 m.p.h., the taxi skidded 25 feet before stopping. BAD FOR SKIDDING. The Coroner: I have had two fatalities arising from accidents , nearer Manners Street. The roadway is very oily and bad for skidding there. Witness: It was very greasy further up' on the night of the accident. That is why we skidded 25 feet uphill in the test. The Coroner: Traffic blockages and the dripping of oil from vehicles apparently increase the slipperiness where the other two fatalities occurred, nearer Manners Street. Henry Burton, a music teacher, said that he was a passenger in the rear ef. a taxi travelling along upper Willis Street at a reasonable speed, when opposite the V.M.C.A. .building, he felt Ik bump. The taxi stopped almost isimultaneously, and he saw an elderly man dying immediately in front. The jnan&was-ilying-across-the tram lines.