SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT

Evening Star, Issue 22720, 6 August 1937, Page 14

SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT

DRIVER CONVICTED OF NEGLIGENCE [Per United Press Association,] CHRISTCHURCH, August 5. Alexander Hugh Miller, driver of the Ha warden school bus, an . accident to which resulted in several children being seriously injured on May 10, was before the. Magistrate’s Court at Culverden to-day on a charge of gent driving, and was fined £i and ordered to pay costs. His license was suspended and l he was prohibited from obtaining another until February 5, 1939. Miller claimed that the accident was due to the jamming of the accelerator pedal. Two charges were preferred against Miller, one of driving negligently in Dalmeny road, Mason’s Flat, and the second of driving without due care and attention. The charges were heard by Mr H. A. Young, S.M. Sub-inspactor D. A. Maclean, who prosecuted, said that while the bus was going towards-the small bridge on Dalmeny road something went wrong and the vehicle went off the road, mounting a little hill Ift Gin to 2ft high, and then careering about 33yds diagonally across the road till it hit the stuqp of a tree. The engine of the bus was pushed back and considerable damage was done. Some of the children in the bus were seriously injured, one suffering a fractured skull and others severe facial injuries. Some were still in hospital. For the defence Mr D. W. Russell said that Miller actually used l great judgment in avoiding a 40ft chasm into which the Bus would have fallen had he not steered for the tree. * “ I think that he was negligent in letting the bus run up the 18in to 2ft rise,” the Magistrate said after hearing the evidence and Mr Russell’s submissions. 1

Mr Russell said that Miller had lost his job and was now a groom in a stable. He had suffered a broken jaw and other injuries in the accident. Miller was fined on the charge of negligent driving. The charge of driving without due care and attention was withdrawn.