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EXPRESS & CAR COLLIDE

STRATFORD CROSSING CRASH TWO WOMEN KILLED [per press association.] NEW PLYMOUTH, May 1. The south-bound New PlymouthWanganui passenger train struck and overturned a five-seater motor car at Seyton Road railway crossing, Stratford, this afternoon. Two women were killed, and a man was seriously injured. Those killed are: —. Mrs J. A. Miller, aged 68, widow of Hon. Mr Miller, of Wellington (and mother of Mrs W. Hathaway, of Flint Road, Stratford), who died on her admission to the hospital. •-

Mrs McKenzie, of Hamilton, who was very seriously injured, and who died at the Stratford Public Hospital. Mrs W. Hathaway is suffering from severe bruises all over the body and shock. She is in a private hospital. Mr William Hathaway is seriously injured about the head and chest, and he has a broken shoulder. He also was taken to the hospital, and his condition is serious.

The engine struck the rear portion of the* car, and sent it hurtling* through the air, to crash in a crumpled mass against a telegraph pole.

Mrs Miller and Mrs McKenzie arrived at Stratford last Saturday, intending to spend a holiday with Mr and Mrs Hathaway. Mr Hathaway is 75 years of age, and grave -doubts of his recovery are entertained. People who saw the accident or were on the spot soon after the crash, say Mr Hathaway was driving, with his wife also in the front seat. Mrs Miller and Mrs McKenzie occupied the rear seat. The crossing is dangerous, because the visibility is obscured by a shed. Apparently .the car had almost crossed the lines when the engine struck the rear portion, flinging it violently aside, turning it over, and bringing it to rest lying on its side facing in almost the opposite direction to that in which it had been going. So violent was the impact that Mrs Miller and Mrs McKenzie were hurled from the rear, a distance of five or six yards, against the closed and bolted doors of. a garage, shattering tiie timbers. The two ladies were lying inside the garage, when helpers rushed to their assistance. RIGHTS OF THE ROAD. , CHIEF JUSTICE’S COMMENT. NELSON. May 1. In the course of a remark concerning motorists' in general, during his summing up in a. claim for damages, at the Supreme Court, to-day, the Chief Justice, Sir M. Myers, said that it did not follow that if a man drove a motor car he was a man of wealth. The ownership of a car nowadays was not an indication of the wealth of the owner.

“No body of motorists,” later re l marked His Honor, “had a monopoly of the road. Thank heaven they have not,” he added. “I do not suppose that motorists as a. whole are negligent. They are not,” further remarked His Honor. “The majority of motorists that I have seen are not negligent, but not’ all are as careful as they should be. Every motorist must drive with reasonable care. The motorists must use ordinary care, and have due regard to the safety of the public, whether they are drivers of motor vehicles, pedestrians, or drivers of vehicles other than motors. Similarly, the pedestrian must be careful, and he must not go and throw himself under a motor car. as it were, and then turn around and say to the driver: ‘I am going to hold you liable for damages because you have injured me.’ The answer to the pedestrian is, ‘You did not take ordinary care and are the author of your own injury.”’

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GEST19310502.2.43

Bibliographic details

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 May 1931, Page 7

Word Count
590

EXPRESS & CAR COLLIDE Greymouth Evening Star, 2 May 1931, Page 7

EXPRESS & CAR COLLIDE Greymouth Evening Star, 2 May 1931, Page 7