ANNESBROOK RAIL WAY CROSSING FATALITY

Nelson Evening Mail, 8 March 1916, Page 5

ANNESBROOK RAIL WAY CROSSING FATALITY

INQUEST ON THE VICTIMS. Tho following further evidence was> taken at the. inquest yesterday afternoon on the victims of the Anriesbrbok railway crossing fatality!:— Henry "William Schwass, railway ganger," stated that he was in charge of a- gang on the Amiesbrook section on the day of the accident. He inspected the car after the accident', and' found the hand brake not applied. To Mr Maginnity: The brake might have been altered bv the'impact To the Coroner : The horn of the car was bent across the ratchet, and would prevent the handle of tho brake, after the accident, being put into the position he found it.

To Mr Harley: The crossing was reckoned a dangerous one. Richard Dayman, engineer, stated that the brake of the car' was off when jhe saw it. The brakes were in good | order when the car went out of the Commercial Garage a week before the | accident. It was quite possible for the brake to have been altered by the ■ impact.. It was a fairly noisy car. , To Mr Fell: Travelling at. 20 miles an hour he thought the car could have been pulled up in "30 feet. : ■ v ■ 'To Mr Maginnity: The state of the car now was no criterion of its state, before the accidemt. • .i To Mr Harley: He; would use .the foot brake in the first instance, and both the foot and emergency bl "akes > f an accident was imminent. - Constable MacGregor gave evidence as to hedges and distances at which a train could be seen; also as .to the condition of the car after the accident. He saw the driver of the car, who was very much shaken. The driver told him he had neyer thought' of the train, did' not hear the whistlej and thai; if he.hadthad two vards to spare he could have stopped the "car. The; driver was .perfectly sober. ,■ ■ ' , To Mr Harley : The driver of -the car told him he"-was-travelling froni 8' to 10 miles an hour when- he saw .the-, .train. , ■Mr Pell put in the' Railway By-Laws and/. section 10 of .the Railways, 'Act Amendment Act, 1913. - - ; • . : " It was decided to take- (the evidence of Mr P. B. Lomax : at 'the Hospital" the. following day, and the inquest was- then adjourned. .-,■ ■ . - ■ .- • "■"•'. ' At the Hospital this ; morning Percy Beecham Lbmax'deposed that he; was-on the car that collided 'withi%_ train. Mr Pine was-'in the • front seat the driver. "Witness was in: back sea* with Mr Green. The 'car approached the Annesbrobk crossing at about,2o. miles per hour. He did:n,ot.seieiibr hear the train until they" were within & few yards of the crossing. rHe" didfriotjkeep any look out for the train. ..He thought Mr Hallam was paying .the usual dJt-. tention as a driver.:, He" Jbought .My Hallam saw the train. -The car was practically at a standstill wheh. it* struck the .train. • *- : '■'■■ ■ ■.■.■• To Mr Fell: In crossing ithe line coming in in the morning, Mr Hallam 'said ;: "It is a very,-;yerydangerous.crossing; there is sure to he -an accident here some, da^.'' Messrs Pine; and Green' intended.' going to Upper Moutere and 1 back, that night. .They intended returning by the car leaving Moutere aji- 4-45 after inspecting some properties: '"' " i To Mr Maginnity: They had plenty of time to do what they proposed. To Mr Harley: The car made, a bit of noise. He had had considerable experience of Mr Hallam driving. He was the most careful man he had ever been with. He had ridden with him often, and he might .be put &>wn as a 20-miles;-per-hour man. Witness did not notice if the car slowed down comimr near the crossing. He was talking to Mr Green. It was an old car, and witness should not think it could, be.dr'ven a't a high speed. ' To the Coroner: He could not sav whether Mr Ha'llam was talking to Mr Pine as the car approached the crossing.

TFB FINDING.,

The Coroner then returned ,to r the Courthouse. where he" (that the finding of the Courfa was ;that the deceased Horaw IXiniel Pine and "Albert Havelock Green, died at the Nelson "Hosnital on the 3rd March, 1916. from iniurie* received as the result of an accident at the Anne=>brook B-rilway Cro?sirig bv a collision with a motor car and .tr*in, the raiise of the accident beinar the failure of the driver of the, car, F, R. H-allam. to observe the provisions of section 10 of the TKilwavs Act. 1913, and the "Regulation of the sth Februarv. and his failure in' take ordinary precautions to look out forothe train in approaching a crossing known to him toTje dangerous. A EJDEK. As a rider, the Coroner recommended that B-aiUvnv Department and the Countv Council enforce anv powers they have to biv* all cut low at crossings: and further, tbat at the, A'nne«. brook crossincr "drivers of engines should sound a loud whistle when within 1(10 Urrd« of the closing and until the train. i"= on the ciossing.