FEAR OF DEATH

Hokitika Guardian, 7 May 1934, Page 8

FEAR OF DEATH

j VILLAGE THAT GETS NO REST ! DANGER SPOT ON THE ROAD j LONDON, Mav 2. | Eo-ir of sudden death haunts the inhabitants of the tiny Middlesex village of South Minims. I As it- is '•mi the main London to Birm--1 ’’lOfbnm-VDinchoster road car si amd lorries hurtle through its centre dav and night at terrific speeds and accidents are almost daily occurrences. So serious has the position become that a question wms raised in the House of Commons last month with a view to having .a speed-limit imposed within the village boundaries, j “Two of my parishioners have been ! killed in the past two months.” the j Rev Allen Hay, Yicar of St. Giles, said to an interviewer. “There are three particularly bad places where accii dents froouently occur, and we are j hoping that the Ministry of Transport | will do something about it soon.' “On several .occasions people hurt in accidents in the village have been attended to in the vicarage. Seven or eight times in the past year the churchyard fence has been smashed down. When there is a smash the villagers have to do the best they can for the injured, for there is no doctor in the village.’” At BigneH’s Corner where the Birmingham Road and the Great North Road cross each other, a correspondent of .the Daily Express stood watching the cavalcade for an hour. More than 200 cars and lorries passed in that time, and there was a constant screeching of brakes.

“The only time we get any real rest is on Saturday nights,” one villager says. “During the week heavy lorries yiss through .every few minutes tall night long. On Saturday nights we get only private cars. There are hardly any pets in the village now. Cats arid dogs are always being killed.”