SPEED CAUSES DEATH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23444, 8 March 1938, Page 6

SPEED CAUSES DEATH

MOTOR CYCLING ACCIDENT CRASH ON PENINSULA ROAD A verdict that death was due to asphyxia following injuries received when a motor cycle crashed at Macandrew Bay on February 5 was returned by the coroner, Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., at the inquest yesterday on John Michale Davis Bayne, who died in the Dunedin Hospital from injuries. The coroner added that the road was clear and the day fine, and the only explanation he could give was that the deceased was speeding. Sergeant Cooper represented the police. Clifford Arnold Hitchcox, a truck driver residing at Vauxhall, said that on February 5 tin deceased had called for him to go to the Port Chalmers regatta. Witness had been unable to obtain his own motor cycle, so had ridden pillion on that of the deceased. They had not gone to Port Chalmers, as rain had commenced to fall, and had spent the afternoon motoring about the Taieri Plain. In the evening they had set out from Dunedin for the home of the deceased at Macandrew Bay, but witness had no recollection of what had Happened after that until he returned to consciousness in the Hospital o". the following day. Arthur James William Jackson, a motor mechanic, said he had examined the motor cycle, which was not extensively damaged. He had tested the brakes and found both in good order, and was of the opinion that at the time of the accident the machine was in a fit and sound condition to be used on any roadway. Albert Victor Grindley, a business manager residing at Macandrew Bay, said he was motoring towards Dunedin on February 5, and passed the deceased on the way. Bayne v/as travelling at a fairly fast speed. Witness had subsequently inspected the scene of the accident, and was of the opinion that the foot rest had come into contact with the road on a bend, causing the accident. Alan Thomas Smith, a farm hand, residing at Highcliff, said the accident occurred near a gate where he was standing at the time. Hearing the crash, witness ran to the men, who were lying on the grass at the side of tYf road. There was no blood about, but he could see that they were seriously injured, so he summoned the ambulance/ There was no other traffic on the road at the time, and the weather was fine and the light good. The cycle passed him at a very high speed, which he considered must have been the cause of the accident. A verdict, as recorded above, was returned by the coroner.