DEATHS OF CYCLISTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21252, 4 August 1932, Page 12

DEATHS OF CYCLISTS

REMUERA ROAD ACCIDENT MACHINE GRAZES TRAMCAR EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST The adjourned inquest concerning the death of Ivor Courtenay Hobday, aged 20, of 21 Victoria Avenue, Remuora, who received fatal injuries on July 5, when the motor-cycle he was riding in Itomuera lioad came in contact with a tramcar, was concluded before Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., coroner, yesterday afternoon. Deceased was a clerk in the Bank of New Zealand and was a former pupil of King's College. Walter Henry Haslam, tramway motorman, said that at about 6.20 p.m. on

July 5 he was driving a tramcar along Remuera Road. When about two pole lengths from Market Road witness felt a slight grazing alongside his tramcar, and, looking to his left, saw a motorcyclist travelling at a terrific pace from the direction of the tramcar to the footpath. The cyclist struck his head against a pole on the kerb and fell on the road, and the cycle came to rest under a hedge. The handlebars of the cyclo left marks on the side of the tramcar. In witness' opinion the cyclist must have been proceeding at'' a fast rato and probably skidded into the tramcar. The latter was well lighted and was travelling at about 12 miles an hour. A passenger in the tramcar, Neville Egerton Crowe, said ho saw the motor-

cycle strike the tramcar a glancing blow and then cross the road and mount the footpath, the rider becoming unseated. The coroner returned a verdict that death was due to shock and injuries received by deceased when he accidentally fell from his motor-cycle. "Tho road was dear and it is possible that deceased was travelling a little faster than ho should have at a bend," added Mr. McKean, ARCHHELL FATALITY LORRY DRIVER EXONERATED A verdict of accidental death was returned by Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., coroner, at the adjourned inquest yesterday afternoon into the death of Gerald Rows Clapham, aged 45, of Great North Road, Point Chevalier, who died in the Auckland Hospital on July 11 following injuries received in a street accident. Evidence was given that deceased was riding a bicycle along Great North Road, Archhill, on the morning of July 11, when his machine skidded and he was thrown on to the roadway in front of a motorlorry, one wheel of which passed over him. " I was proceeding about 20ft. behind a tramcar when I saw a man on a cycle push himself off a small delivery van into the centre of the road, about sft. in front of my lorry," said Lincoln Harold Gandy,

the driver of the lorry. " Just then the cycle skidded and the man fell in front of my lorry and one of the front wheels passed over him. I had my brakes applied before the man had fallen, and I stopped the truck just as the front wheel passed over him. I was travelling at only about 10 miles an hour at the time. The roadway was wet and greasy, but visibility was good." " I am satisfied that the lorry was carefully driven and that the occurrence was quite an accident," said tho coroner, in returning a verdict that death was due to shock following injuries received as the result of an accidental fall from a bicycle in front of a motor-lorry.