SOUTH ROAD FATALITY

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 24 May 1932, Page 2

SOUTH ROAD FATALITY

CAR DRIVER ON TRIAL. ALLEGATIONS OF NEGLIGENCE. The trial was commenced in the New | Plymouth Supreme Court yesterday, j before Mr. Justice Reed, of Alfred George Walker, on a charge of driving a motor-car negligently on the South Road, near Hawera, on the night m March 22, thereby causing the death of Norman McLeod. In addition to the charge of manslaughter he was also charged under the Motor Vehicles Act with driving in a negligent manner so as to cause death. Pleas of not guilty were made to each charge. [n outlining the case the Crown Prosecutor said the accident happened at about 9 o’clock in the evening on the Main South Road between Hawera and Manaia. The accused, with McLeod, was returning from Hawera to the Oh awe beach when the car capsized and McLeod was killed. There were no' eyewitnesses of the accident except the accused himself. The Crown submitted that the accident and the subsequent death of McLeod was the result of the negligence of the accused in driving the car. In order to permit a better understanding of the accident, at this stage counsel placed before the court and jury plans of the road and the locality, which he said would be more fully explained by the surveyor who made them. It was pointed out that there was a straight stretch of roadway for some distance which had a bitumen surface for 18ft., and sand and grass on either side, but it was level for the lull width. There was a bend some distance before the point of the accident. On March 24 the accused gave liis account of the accident. He explained that he had been at the beach with McLeod and they came up to Hawera for the purpose of getting some liquor, about which counsel said lie would speak more fully later on. They leu, Hawera shortly before 9 p.m. to return to the beach, and as they approached the bend in the road the, accused suggested his s'peed was about 35 miles an hour. The car did not respond to his first slight turn of the steering wheel and ho gave it a sharpen turn and thereafter lost control of the car. He was doing his best to straighten up the car, but it would not come back, and he was aware of the car running towards the fence and knew no more until after the car had overturned. Approaching the point where the ac_ cident took place counsel said a slua mark was found measuring 132 ft. I lie showed where the car had crashed into it, and the power line post had been moved from lim. to 2in m its base. The wires had been broken and the town of Hawera plunged into darkness for a time, and it was also believed there had been a sliorceircuiting on the telephone system. It was submitted bv the Crown Prosecutor that the length of the skid mark, the damage to the hedge and the pole, were the best evidence .of exessive speed, which lie .said was the first act of negligence on the part of accused, Oil which, the Crown relied.

ALLEGEDLY DEFECTIVE CAR The ear which the accused was driving was a 1922 or 1923 model Dodge, in a considerably depreciated condition. The steering wheel had six inches play, the king pill was loose, and other parts were worn or missing and the whole oi the steering mechanism of the car was m a very bad state, which would necessitate very careful handling of the car by anyone driving it. At the inquest the. accused admitted that the car was a hard one to drive, but ’lie said its condition made it practically impossible to get more than 40 miles an hour out of it. One had to “drive it ail the time,” and be always on the alert. On that piece of road and with no one else about, he did not consider 35 miles an hour an excessive or dangerous speed. Counsel said the allegations of negligence which the Grown made were in respect to the speed at which the accused was travelling, and also the unskilful and careless way in which he had driven the ear, and in driving with the car in a defective condition. No emergency had been created in this case, as was the case m many accidents, and it was pointed out that the accused was driving along a road with which ho was, very familiar. Counsel referred to the charge of manslaughter and reminded the jury that they should not be frightened by that word, which somehow had become associated with murder charges. The ■offence of negligence under the Motor Vehicles Act had been enacted in ]92 ’ to provide for such cases as this ami other similar accidents involving the death of persons.

EVIDENCE! OF LIQUOR In conclusion the Crown Prosecutor said that the Crown could not prove drunkenness on the part of the accused, and the evidence of those who came on the scene would go to show that he was sober. It would be shown, however, that he had had some drink at five o’clock and again at six o’clock, and that there was a jar of beer in the car, and afterwards two beer bottles were I found near where the car had capsized. Lengthy evidence was given by several witnesses along similar lines to that taken at the lower court hearing at Hawera. ACCUSED’S EVIDENCE Walker stated that he was travelling between 30 and 35 miles per hour in the centre of the road. He could see no other cars. As lie approached the corner the ear took a slight pull over to the right. He gave the steering wheel a slight turn to the left, but this did not answer. By this time he was practically on top of the corner and to got around he had to give the wheel a slightly sharper turn. As soon as ho did this the wheel spun round quickly in his hands and the car got out of control. ' He tried unsuccessfully to spin the wheel the other way. He saw the hedge “coining up to meet him.” Then suddenly the car toppled sideways and the next thing lie remembered was the capsized car against the post. He thought it had capsized before it reached the hedge. He was not a mechanic and before this case he did not know what king pins were. 'When he said in one of his j statements that lie “knew all its defects’’ lie was referring to the loose mudguards and other “rnttly” parts that be could see. He did not think there was a play of six inches in the steering wheel before the accident. He had never had any trouble with the car before, although as an old car it needed driving. On a ‘previous occasion the front wheels of the car had locked—when he was moving out of the Farmers’ Co-op. garage. A man at the garage jacked the wheels up and looked at them. Afterwards he said the wheels would he all right and there had been no further trouble of that sort till the accident. The gin bottle had contained homemade beer lie had been asked to try. That was six weeks before. The bottle-

had been taken to Stratford and he had pub the empty bottle in the back of the car and had forgotten about it; the owner had asked him to save the bottle. The other empty bottle had contained home-made wine before it had been placed in the hack of the ear some time prior to the accident. Under cross-examination Walker said that from the 'point of view of safety, considering his knowledge of the old car, there was no difference between driving this car and a more up-to-date lone. There was a play of about four inches in the steering wheel. He had driven modern cars. He did not consider the car hit the post with any great force; if so the muffler box would have been smashed. At 5 p.m. four of them had a bottle of beer between them at the factory; at the hotel at 6 o’clock lie had two shandies, when he bought two bottles of beer to take to the beach, and two more shandies before lie left for the beach. The empty wine bottle had been in the car for three or four days. Alfred John Hughes, a lorry driver employed by Walkerand Sons, said he kept the motor vehicles in repair for the firm When he heard of the accident he first thought of the steering o-ear. Three days before he was driving the same car when he had occasion to turn to the left. He attempted to turn the wheel back, but it was locked and he could not. He pulled up the ear and managed to get the wheel round again. It was stiff, hut he mannered to straighten the wheel. He took tlTe car back to the firm, but had not mentioned the trouble to Walker. i Cross-examined, he said he had intended to mention the matter to Walker, who drove the car a good deal He had intended to tell Walker that the steering gear needed overhauling. Witness admitted he might have had an accident if the ear had been travelling at any speed when the wheel locked "with him. Witness went away to the country after that mishap and the fatal accident occurred about four days later After the accident he told Walker of the trouble he himself had experienced. „ , , . .. , To His Honour: He had heard ol other cars skidding, but he had not heard of wheels locking in the manner indicated. At this stage the hearing was adjourned until to-day.