CRASH INTO TRAM

Evening Star, Issue 21934, 22 January 1935, Page 13

CRASH INTO TRAM

OEATH OF GAR DRIVER LI CLASiE ATTACHABLE TO DECEASED All blame lor the accident was at..'.chabio to the deceased,” said the ’oronnr (Mr H. W. Bundle, S.AI.) at be inquest yesterday afternoon on ’eorge A\ illiam Brown, whose car cojidod with a tram at the Kensington Intel corner on the night of December Brown died in -hospital three days later.

Senior-sergeant Packer represented ;he police. Air A. N. Haggitt appeared ■ <n- the City Corporation and for the ■notonnan of the tram. The licensee of bo Rugby Hotel was represented by Air '■ J. Anderson, and the licensee of the lav View Hotel by Air J. S. Sinclair. William Henry Summers, a tram 'river, employed by the Dunedin City

■ orporation, said that on Saturday, December 22. last year, he was on duly m a tramcar which left the St. Kilda terminus at 11.6 n.m. to go to the Exchange. When nearing the Kensington Hotel corner witness saw the head lights of a car approaching on the wrong side ol the road. The motor car was travelling very fast, and was about 20yds away when ho first saw it. He applied the brakes of the tram, and brought it to a standstill. The motor car crashed into the front right side of the tram, and was thrown to the right and behind. The motor car, in witness’s opinion, was travelling at fifty miles per hour. Witness sounded his gong loudly when ho saw the car approaching. The passengers in the motor car were under the influence of alcohol. David Gordon Smith, a conductor on the tram, said he was looking out on the off side of the tram, when he saw a. motor car approaching at a tremendous speed on the wrong side of the road. The motorman sounded his bell, and then the tram was suddenly brought to a stop. The motor car crashed into the tram and skidded off, finishing up a distance of 12ft behind the tram. Witness added that he could not detect any trace of liquor on the deceased after the accident.

Frederick Hocking Glover, a truck driver, residing at 7 New street, St. Hilda, said that he had had a number of drinks at an hotel during the afternoon. At 8.30 he was standing in Bay A'iew road talking to Constable Palmer, when Brown pulled up in his motor car and invited him to rim into the city. Leonard Aloulin was in the car. They pulled up in Al'Bride street, and drank a bottle of beer. They then went to the Rugby Hotel, where deceased and witness had two drinks. Another bottle of beer was consumed at the Stock Exchange. and they then went to the Bay View Hotel, where they remained for half an hour, and had drinks. A visit was then made to a pie cart Brown was still driving when they left for South Dunedin. Brown wits <l merry ” going along Princes street south, where Aloulin said; “Look out lor tlie tram.’’ The car was travelling at a speed of thirty to forty miles an hour. The car hit the tram; that was all witness could remember. He heard the tram bell sounding when they were 15yds or 20yds away on the left-hand side of the road.

Asked to explain the accident, witness said he supposed the car either hit the tram or the post.

The Coroner: That does not help much.

Senior-sergeant Packer; Have you already made a statement about the accident P—Yes.

Is it the same as you are now making ?—Yes.

Are you sure of that?—Yes. Air Sinclair; Has leave been applied for to treat the witness as hostile. Air Packer: “ Your Worship said the witness was not helpful.” He could not see any reason for the objection as tlm statement was in counsel’s favour. To Air Haggitt: The tram pulled up quickly and was stationary when the car struck it.

Jo Mr Sinclair; Before going to the hotel in the afternoon he was drinking at the house of Brown’s brother-in-law, hut Brown and Moulin were not present. Ho saw Brown at an hotel at 6 o’clock. He could not say why Moulin did not accompany them into the first hotel. Ho hoard the bell ringing at the second hotel; he would not swear that there was a bell there. Mr Sinclair: Now in your statement—

Witness; When I made the statement L was not in a good condition to give it.

In other words, wore yon intoxicated when yon made the statement to the police?—l had a fractured skull. How Jong was it after the accident when yon made it?—About a week. Summing up, you seem to have bad a bectic afternoon and evening?—No. How many drinks altogether did you have?—About ten.

Were yon perfectly sober?—Yes. To Mr Anderson; Ho was not inebriated and ho would drive his own lorry after having ten drinks within two or throe hours. He did not recognise who opencil the door at the first hotel, but he saw the licensee in tho bar. It was in Crawford street, not at the Stock Exchange, where they consumed tho beer.

Leonard Robert Moulin, a labourer and jockey, residing at 4G Stafford street, said that he mot tho deceased at his shop at about 8.30 p.m. At the corner of Bay View road and Prince Albert road they met Glover. Witness also gave evidence regarding the party’s movements from that time till the accident occurred. Just before the car hit tho tram, he said, the deceased seemed to get over on the wrong side of the road. Prior to the accident witness told the deceased that if he did not “ take it steady ” he would have an accident. Witness denied that they ever went into Crawford street.

Robert King, in evidence, said lie saw the ear crash into the tram with terrific force. In his opinion the motorist was travelling at such a terrific speed that ho was unable to take tho corner in the proper manner. If he had not struck the tram he would have struck the building or fence on the other side of the road. Thomas Safey. an assistant at tho Dowling street pie cart, said that when the three men came into tho cart Glover and Moulin had had a fair amount of liquor. Drown was not drunk and appeared to ho capable of driving a car.

After hearing tho evidence of two constables who were present shortly after ■ tho accident, tho Coroner said Hiat flic evidence quite clearly showed that on the evening of the accident the deceased had been drinking and was, and must have been, under the influence of liquor. The deceased, in his opinion, was incapable of driving a ear at the time of tho accident, and his condition was such that he was unable to avoid coming into collision with tho tram._ Ho was satisfied that the (ram driver did everything humanly_ possible to avoid the collision, ft was indeed fortunate that it was a tram which was struck and not a motor car; otherwise some unfortunate individual might have suffered injuries such as those received hy the deceased, ft had been suggested (hat then; had been some delay, <m the- park oi; iho

ambulance in getting tho deceased to the hospital, but that was shown to bo finite wrong by the statement of the police that only 22min had elapsed from the time the call was received until tho injured man was in hospital. On tho evidence before him he found that the deceased died of intra-cranial haemorrhage and laceration of the brain caused by injuries received as the result of a collision between a car driven by Ibo deceased and 1 a tram, all blame being attachable to the deceased. The coroner commented that the police would, no doubt, test the statements that, had been made regarding drinking in hotels after hours.