WOMAN’S DEATH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26199, 9 July 1946, Page 2

WOMAN’S DEATH

KNOCKED DOWN BY TRAM ACCIDENT IN SOUTH DUNEDIN The fact that no special instructions were issued to tramway motormen in Dunedin concerning the care they should exercise when approaching pedestrian crossings was the subject of remark by Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., in his capacity as coroner at an inquest yesterday. He was .inquiring into an accident at the corner of King Edward street and Melbourne street on the night of June 10, which resulted in the death on the following day of Mrs Jane Harwood, a widow, aged 76 His finding was that death was caused by shock resulting from injuries to the head and chest received when the deceased was knocked down by a tramcar. The magistrate emphasised that there was no suggestion of excessive speed or carelessness on the part of the driver of the tram.

Sergeant R. F. Leith conducted the inquiry on behalf of the police, and the Corporation Transport Department was represented by Mr A. N. Haggitt. Dr Phyllis Mary Stockdill, a house surgeon at the Public Hospital, said that Mrs Harwood was conscious when she was admitted to Hospital, but was dazed and suffering from injuries to the head and chest and multiple injuries to the back, arms and legs. She died the following day from shock resulting from the injuries to her head and chest.

James Crookes, a tram motorman. said that he was driving the tram which left Forbury Park at 10.42 p.m. on June 10. It was a wet night and the visibility was very poor. He did not see anyone on the King Edward streetMelbourne street pedestrian crossing, but as soon as he was over it he fel* a bump. He stopped the car immediately and found a woman underneath the right side of the tram. She was taken to the Hospital in an ambulance 10 minutes later. The tram was travelling at between 10 and 12 miles an hour, and he pulled it up in about half of its own length. There, was a halfopened umbrella on the road, In reply to the magistrate, witness said that the woman was on the lifeguard and not right underneath the car.

Instructions to Motormen

The magistrate: Have tramway motormen any instructions as to their duties when approaching pedestrian crossings?—We have been ordered to take special precautions approaching intersections. . Sergeant Leith said that in November 1938, when the pedestrian crossings were inaugurated in Dunedin, an instruction was given to motormen that they were not to overlap the crossings when cars were stopped. There had not been any special instructions regarding the approach to crossings, although instructions had been given regarding approach to interse tions. Witness agreed that beyond the general instruction of precaution when approaching intersections, there had not been any specific instruction. The magistrate: Is there any maximum speed fixed for crossing intersections?—No. Witness added that an outbound St. Kilda tram passed the tram whi h he was driving just about the intersection. The magistrate: Are there any instructions regarding slowing down when you are passing another car?— We are to slow down when passing a stationary tram and to sound the gong whenever we pass another car. To Mr Haggitt, the witness said that the action of the lifeguard on the trams was automatic on contact with anything on the line. The headlamp on the tram was broken in this accident. and glass was on the road a few feet past the crossing. He. assumed that it had been struck by Mrs Harwood’s umbrella. A Good Stop

Owen Kelly, a tram examiner, gave evidence that he was going to work in the tram involved in this accident and was sitting on the front seat. The tram was travelling at a very moderate speed. It was raining, and the visibility was poor. He heard a bang and felt a, bump as the tram crossed the pedestrian crossing, and the driver applied the magnetic brake and stopped the car in about its own length. He considered that the brakes operated efficiently. The woman was wearing dark clothes, and he saw nothing to suggest her presence on the road. In reply to questions, witness said that the tram was travelling at from eight to ten miles an hour. The motorman made a good stop. John Hollick, a tramway motorman, said that the deceased had been visiting his wife on the night of the accident. Five minutes after she left to go home he wgs informed that there had been an accident, and he went in the ambulance with Mrs Harwood She was conscious, and she told him that she had waited for the outward bound St. Kilda tram to pass, and then started to cross the road. She had not seen another car coming.

To Sergeant Leith, he said that the tain was coming from the south-east, and that Mrs Harwood would be using the umbrella to prote r t her head. Further evidence was given by Mrs Amelia Hollick and by Constable M. F. McGuire, of South Dunedin.

Need for Instructions Apart from the bad weather, the circumstance that two trams were passing on or near the intersection was unfortunate, the magistrate said. He found that the deceased died from shock resulting from severe head and chest injuries received when she was knocked down by a tram on June 10 Although he made it clear that there was no suggestion of excessive speed or negligence in this case, the magistrate commented on the fact that there were no instructions for drivers regarding approach to pedestrian crossings. “In some respects," he said, “ the tram is the king of the road. Yet the authorities apparently do not consider it necessary or desirable to issue instructions covering approaches to these crossings” Mr Haggitt suggested that the reason might be found in the number of crossings in the city. If trams had to slow down at every crossing, perhaps they would never gather any speed on some routes. It was a matter of common knowledge. the magistrate continued, that there were instances of trams approaching pedestrian crossings whicn were not being driven with “every precaution.” There should be the same restriction on speed as there was at intersections. In reply to the magistrate. Sergeant Leith said that the majority of pedestrian crossings were at intersections The magistrate: Is it the experience of the police that tram drivers do exercise reasonable care when they are approaching these crossings?—That is the general experience. The magistrate asked Mr Haggitt that his observations on the desirability of there being a set of instructions covering the approach of trams to pedestrian crossings should be brought to the notice of the authorities.