TOLL OF CROSSINGS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21378, 30 December 1932, Page 9

TOLL OF CROSSINGS

DEATHS IN PAST YEAR> MARKED DECREASE SHOWN LOWEST TOTAL SINCE 1921 FEW AUCKLAND ACCIDENTS Only seven people were killed as a result of level crossing accidents in the Dominion in 1932, the smallest number of deaths in the past 11 years. In 1923 nine lives were lost, while in 1931 the total •was 13. The number for this year is less than a quarter of the disastrous total of 34 in 1930, when 12 people were killed in two collisions. ■ • In the first seven months of 1932, the position was serious, as in 29 level-cross-ing accidents five people had been killed and 24 injured. In the later', part of the yeai', however, there was a welcome reduction in the number of accidents, only two people meeting their deaths and six being injured between August and December. y ' Of the seven people killed in 1932, three were drivers of motor-trucks, one the driver of a motor-car, two passengers in motors, and the other a pedestrian. -There were no fatal accidents in the immediate vicinity of Auckland City, although the driver of a cream lorry at Tuakaa received injuries from which he subsequently died. Records for Ten Years Following are the numbers of persons killed and injured in level-crossing accidents in New Zealand since 1922:

j Three level-crossing accidents occurred ; in the Auckland suburbs, two being at .the notorious Church Street crossing, Te Papapa, and the other at Mangere.. In the first collision at Church Street, which occurred on January 29, four people had a remarkable escape from injury, while in the second instance, on December 2, a child was gravely hurt. A boy was knocked from his bicycle at the Mangere crossing on November 17 1 and escaped with abrasions. . The most serious accident during the year was that in which two women were killed as a result of a smash at a levelcrossing on the northern side of the Waihirere railway station, nine miles from Gisborne, on October 21. Mrs. Minnie Dimcombe, the driver, was killed instantly, and a passenger, who was in the front seat, Mrs. Elsie Mary Earnshaw, died from her injuries on December 22. A daughter of Mrs. Earnshaw, who was also in the front>~seat of the-wrecked car, was injured severely, while two other passengers suffered shock. . Eight Accidents in July The accident near Gisborne was- the only one in which two lives were lost, but in several other instances more than one ' person was gravely injured in level-cross? ing smashes. A young man, Mr. Frank Gillespie, was killed at the Reuall Street, crossing, near Masterton, on April 10, and a girl and a youth were severely injured, when a motor-bus containing a number of young people was struck by the Wairarapa express. Last July there were eight accidents, resulting in one death and injury to 10 persons. In seven of the eight instances motor-vehicles and trains in the other case, a child who wandered on to the railway line at Huntly North was severely hurt. Following the formidable total of July, there were no levelcrossing collisions reported anywhere .in the Dominion in August, and only two, both of a comparatively minor nature, in September. During the year a number of prosecutions were brought against 5 drivers for failing to keep a vigilant look-out at level crossings, and this, coupled with the formidable death-rolls; of previaus-'years, may possibly have resulted in motorists generally exercising more care at crossings, with a consequent welcome reduction in the number of accidents. ~..

Killed Injured Totals 1922 . 14 31 45 1923 9 32 41 1924 . 13" 98 111 1025 . . 11 80 . 91 1926 H 40 54 1927 . 13 31 4f 1928 . 14 47i - - 01 1929 . 14 36 50 1930 34 52 '88 1931 . 13 21 34 1932 . 7 30 37 156 498 654