FATAL BUS ACCIDENT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 22 November 1927, Page 4

FATAL BUS ACCIDENT.

EVIDENCE AT INQUEST.

A PASSENGER’S STATEMENT.

(by TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 21.

The death in hospital of Mrs. Wat son on October 17 as a result of injuries sustained in a ’bus accident on the Hutt Road was inquired into today by Mr. Riddell, S.M.

Mr. McOourtrie, assistant-ell iei traffic inspector, said lie examined the ’bus shortly after the accident, and took measurements showing the course of the ’bus after it left the road. It would take three and a. half seconds at 20 miles a,n hour for the ’bus to strike the post after ’ leaving the track. if the driver were in full possession l of iris faculties, there would be absolutely no reason why lie should not bring it biack to its < our so as soon as it left the road.

To the question,- “Then the accident was due either to the act of a madman or to- the loss of faculties?” witness answered: “Yes.”

One passenger—they were all women—said that just before the accident a packet of tickets fell down from beside the driver and he stooped to pick it up with his right hand. He had not, reached the tickets at the time of the smash.”

Pressed under cross-examination why she had not made this statement in her original statement to: the police on the tlay of the accident, witness said she considered the incident so important that she thought it would not be spoken of till a properly conducted inquiry', where she would be on oath. She had not even told her husband.

The coroner protected the witness, sayring that she had given a satisfactory' reason. Patrol Constable Morrison said there were no signs of the brakes having been applied between the time of leaving the bitumen and striking the post. The driver, when spoken to after the accident, was perfectly normal and said the wheel slipped out of his hand, and he did not complain about having had any illness.

O’Callaghan, the driver of the bus, said he could give no explanation of how the smash occurred. He had had a license to drive since {September, 1926, hut in. May last he went to a sanatorium for ten weeks and resumed work on October 14, three days before the accident. He would take turns in the head for a second or two, but would not faint. Before the smash he was all right. He did not know that the bus had ieft the bitumen.

Concerning bis head turns, a doctor had told him they were caused by fluid on the lungs. Witness said his sight was good. He had not told his employers about bis head turns (Medical evidence was given that on the day in question O’Callaghan was not physically fit to be driving the bus, as he was subject to turns that would last for a lew seconds. Tiie Coroner delivered an open verdict. Had the medical evidence not shown that O’Callaghan was subject to turns, it would have looked as if the bus had been negligently driven, ancl the accident was most extraordinary. He found that deceased died as the result of injuries received through a bus in which she was riding, driven by John O’Callaghan, coming into collision with a telegraph post on the Hutt Hoad. The question as to whether the driver was guilty of negligence could be tested in another place, he said.