MOTOR JUGGERNAUT STRIKES TWO MEN

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6843, 22 February 1929, Page 7

MOTOR JUGGERNAUT STRIKES TWO MEN

Woman at the Wheel

ONE DIES IMMEDIATELY, OTHER GRAVELY INJURED.

CHRISTCHURCH FATALITY,,

Per Press Association.

CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night.

A motor-car, driven by a woman, knocked down two men in Manchester street this evening. One of the men died in Christchurch hospital ten minutes later. The other man had verygrave head injuries, necessitating an immediate operation. The identity of the men is not known. Letters on the deceased were addressed to Stephen James Johnston, of Te Kopuru, Dargaville.

Tho other man was semi-conscious when picked up and when asked his name, ho said Balsgrove, or a similar name, then quietly lapsed into unconsciousness.

The two men were crossing Manchester street when a closed car approached from tho south and turned into Belfast street, where the two men were struck. The car ran along the. footpath some distance and then collided with another motor-car parked near the footpath. The woman driver of the car was taken to a nearby hotel in a state of nervous collapse.

Jury Condemns on Weak Crown

NAPIER MOTOR-CYCLIST’S TRIAIm

CAUSED DEATH OF ONE WOMAN}

INJURED ANOTHER,

NAPIER, Last Night. A young man, Neil Fitzroy Holderness, appeared at the Supremo Court to-day before Mr. Justice Ostler to answer charges of riding a motor-cycle on September 20 in a negligent manner, so as to tho cause the death of a young woman, Francis Mary Rhodes and injury to another, Edith Maud Jarvis. The Crown based its case on the excessive speed of tho cycle and the fact that accused was on tho wrong side of the road.

Evidenco was given by one eye-wit-ness that his speed was at loast 30 miles an hour.

A sister of the deceased assorted that accused travelled six chains whiib she walked 11 feet.

Tho injured woman said she saw a cyclist 12 chains away and was struck after she had walked 2S feet. Evidenco also showed the accident occurred in the exteme right of the bitumen.

The defence maintained that the estimate of accused’s speed by The sister of deceased and the other young woman was incorrect, their calculations making his speed either 111 or 78 miles an hour. It wa3 also maintained that rubble on the sides of the bitumen was also regarded as useable road, deceased not being on the wrong side. After the jury had returned a verdict of guilty of travelling on the wrong side, with strong recommendation to mercy, His Honour said that had he tried the case himself, he would have found the Crown had not proved its case and would have returned a verdict accordingly. However, as the jury had returned a verdict of guilty of riding on the wrong side of the road, ho had to pass sentence. It was nW; a bad case of negligence, as there were no suggestions of drink, of reckless speeding or of running away, as wa3 sometimes the case in such accidents. It was purely an error of judgment. Accused would be convicted and ordered to come up for sentence if called upon, his present driving license would be cancelled and he would be prohibited from driving until 1931.