RUNAWAY CAR

Evening Star, Issue 22383, 6 July 1936, Page 8

RUNAWAY CAR

WOMAN DRIVER’S NERVE AVERTS . DISASTER [From Our Correspondent.] O AMARU, July 6. Dashing down a steep incline for * * distance of 60ft at breakneck speed, a car with its gearbox out of order and its windscreen smashed, and containing five people, would have almost certainly dashed to destruction but for the presence of mind of the driver, Miss Burnett, of Tiaka Station (North Otago), who, although severely bruised and injured about the head, clung to the wheel and manoeuvred the vehicle round a sharp bend before it overturned. Had the car failed to negotiate the bend certain death awaited the occupants i as an almost perpendicular drop of over 20ft was missed by inches. Two of the passengers escaped with minor abrasions, but Mrs M. Patterson and her daughter, Miss Patterson, of Christchurch, received severe injuries necessitating their removal to hospital. The accident happened on the Main road from Station Peak to- Hakataramea, as the result of the gears jamming at the critical moment.

_ Inquiries to-day elicited the information that the injured persons are making a good recovery.