MARAROA MOTORING FATALITY

Evening Star, Issue 16626, 8 January 1918, Page 2

MARAROA MOTORING FATALITY

JURY RECOMMEND ROAD IMPROVEMENTS. The inquest concerning, the death of William R. Hill, of Roslyn, who was killed in tho motor accident at Gorge Hill, on tho Lumsden-Te Anau road, on Boxing Day, was concluded before Mr S. P. Johnson, J.P., and a jury at Lumsden on Thursday’. Ronald Garrard, the driver of the car, said that after he had got about a quarter of the way down the hill he found that his foot brake was not steadying his ear’s speed sufficiently' to enable him to round the sharp curves at the bottom at a safe speed. Ho then applied the emergency (rear wheel) brake, and at the same time changed into his low gear. When he let the clutch in his gears gave out a grating noise, and the car moved forward gently". About a chain further down the hill, the noise ceased and tho car gathered speed. She continued to increase in speed till she came to the sharp bend at the bottom. He attempted to steer his car round this, hut sho swivau- round, and, the off hind wheel getting over the edge of the bank, she capsized and rolled to tho bottom of the gully. Hugh Hazlett, motor expert, of Invercargill, said ho had examined the car and found all gears and brakes in good order. On taking the back axle to pieces, however, he found that the bevel pinion (which drives the crown wheel in the back axle) had been stripped of most of its cogs. Had these cogs not been off, the car could not have got away-, even had there been no brakes on the car, as she would have had (o drive the engine against compression. The application of the footbrake could have caused the pinion to give way, as it would have much the same effect on tho motion of the car as putting in the low gear on a steep hill or attempting to stop suddenly. The jury returned a verdict that tho deceased was killed by injuries he received to his chest through being thrown out of the ear, which had capsized by reason of the bevel pinion in the back axle stripping its cogs. Tho jury held that tlupdrivor of tho car had done everything in his power to avert the accident.

A rider was added strongly recommending tho Wallace County Council to widen the road where the accident happened. Tho jury were of opinion that had tho road been wider tho accident could have been averted.