RAILWAY CROSSING FATALITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17871, 28 February 1920, Page 6

RAILWAY CROSSING FATALITY

DEATH OF MRS TILBURY. THE CORONER'S SIGNIFICANT RIDER. Mr 11. Y. Widdowson, S.M., coroner, yesterday aflortioon concluded the inquest into tho circumstances attending the death of Mrs Maggie Edith Tilbury on January 12 through iho motor car in which sho was riding, driven by her husband (who wus seriously injured at the siuiio time) coming into collision with a railway train on the Gordon road crossing at Mosgicl. Chief Detective Bishop conducted the inquest for tho police, and Mr J. B. Mitchell (assistant traffic manager) appeared for the Railway Department. Wilfred Herbert Tilbury, tho husband, a motor car owner and driver, was called, but was unable to throw any light upon tho subject. Ho could not rcmombor anything about tho accident nor about tho visit from his brother-in-law (who was in tho car at tho time of the accident, and who was injured, though not seriouslyj, nor could lie remember even starting to drive bis family out to the Taicri. Ho could remember driving a faro to tho Dnnedin Railway Station on the morning of January 12, but not anything that occurred afterwards. *

Ivy Kirk, 17 years of ago, living at Bush road. Mosgiel, said that on Monday, January 12, she was riding a horss along Gordon road towards the station. Sho reached tho crossing just as the train from town was approaching. While waiting for the train to cross sho saw a motor car approaching from the opposite side at about 20 miles an hour, so sho judged. She first saw this car on tho Mosgiel Bido of tho quarry, and the train was then, she thought, coming out of the cutting (about 200 yards away). If the motor car 'driver had, seen the train he had ample time to stop, but he did not appear to notice it. Her horse became restive, and she did not see tho actual collision. From what sho saw she imagined the motor driver had no idea of tho train, and as far as she could seo did not slacken speed. At tho corner the train would have Wn in -view of tho motor driver if he had been on the lookout. She did not hear the. train whistle, she was not listening for it, and tho wind was blowing away from her.

Eliz.alictlf Fulton Milne, aged 15 years, and living at Mosgrcl. was at tho Gordon road crossing, also. Sho thorght the car wits travelling fairly fast. When it came to the house at the corner she and h?r companion held nn their hands as a warning, also calling "Stop, stop!" The driver did not appear to notice, and he came straight on to the crossing. On the crossing she s:iw a woman stand up in it and call out something. The collision occurred shortlyafterwards, and tho occupants of the ear were all thrown out.

Similar evidence was fjivon by a companion of the previous witness, corroborating her statement, of what occurred. Mr Pringle, stntionmastcr at Mosgiel, stated that tests had bf>n made with a motor car, a man beintr placed up the line to represent the position of the engine. A motor car driven at 10 miles an hour approached the crossing. The driver saw the man 75 ynrds up the line, at a distance of 20 yards from the crossing, and pulled the car up in 10 yards. Driving at 20 miles an hour, it was stated, a car could be turned into either of the side roads. Between the quarry at the side of the road and the Gordon road crossing there were three notices warning motor car drivers to slacken speed. E. Hnrkness, fireman on the train, deposed that tha driver blew a long'whistlo at about 280 yards from the crossing and another about 50 yards away. When the train was some 30 yards from "the crossing witness saw the motor ear emerge from behind the building, and called to thr? driver to stop. Tho emergency brake was applied at once. Witness did not see tho collision, the car having pass?d from his (the left) side of the cab. W. Harlo, the driver of the train, corroborated the fireman's evidence as to distance. Ho said ho had made ono application of tho air-brake after the first whistle, and would be travelling at from 16 to 20 miles an hour approaching the crossing. Ho saw nothing of the car, but applied tho emergency brake at the call of the fireman. When an application of tho brake had been made before, the emergency brake had lost some of its power, and the train would be running from 13 to 20 miles an hour when it struck the motor ear. Ho jaw the car appear at his side and heard a slight thud. It was diverted towards tho cattle-stop, and he thought it was the impact against the post that throw deceased out. Tho Coroner reviewed the evidence at some length, stating that it was not possible to -state definitely whether Tilbury saw the train but thought ho could get over, or had no idea of an approaching train in his mind. It was quite possible that he had not heard either whistle, with the wind blowing the sound away and the obstructions between him and the engine. He was reputed to be a very careful driver, and w.ns likely to be the more careful in that ho had with him his family, to which he was said to bo devoted. He was himself now suffering from an impaired memory, and could tell them nothing of what occurred. „ No blame could bo attached to the driver or the fireman of the train; ii- was difficult to see how they could have done more than they had done. The only point remairing. and it was one of public interest, was whether the crossing was' a dangerous one that should have been safeguarded. He knew the department's argument, that it was not a dangerous crossing from a railway point of view; that there were many more dangerous; and that to safeguard them all would require the expenditure of a largo sum of money. These arguments, however, had no weight if there was danger, and although it had been shown that a driver on tho look-out could see tho train when he was sufficiently far from the crossing to pull up, and that if he were travelling at a reasonable speed a driver could turn into the side roads if he could not pull up, the actual fact was, nevertheless, that drivers did not pull up. In giving his verdict in a previous fatal accident at the same crossing ho had recommended that something should be done, and he understood that a signal man was now placed there for tho through trains. In his opinion there was at least ns much danger from slow trains as from through trains, and this was tho time for tho department to take measures to safeguard tho crossing. Ho would find that the. deceased died from shock following frncturo of tho skull through being thrown from a motor car which had been hit bv the engine and had collided with the post of a cattle stop; and he would add as a rider that, this and other accidents having demonstrated danger to the public, tho department should Jmmediatelv take steps to have ifFective action taken to safeguard tho public.