RAILWAY CROSSING FATALITY

Otago Witness, Issue 3442, 2 March 1920, Page 51

RAILWAY CROSSING FATALITY

DEATH OF MRS TILBURY. THE CORONER'S SIGNIFICANT ■ RIDER, Mr 11. Y. Widdowson, -S.M., coroner, on Friday afternoon concluded the inquest into the circumstances attending the death of Mr 3 Maggie Edith Tilbury on January 12 through the motor car in which she was riding, driven by her husband (who was seriously injured at the same tune) v>ming into collision with a railway tr.yift on the Gordon road crossing at Mosgiel. Chief Detective Bishop conducted the inquest for the police, and Mr J. B. Mitchell (assistant traffic manager) appeared for the Railway Department

Wilfred Herbert Tilbury, the husband, a motor car owner and driver, was called, but was unable to throw any light upon the subject. Ho could not remember anything about the accident nor about the visit from his brother-in-law (who was in the car at the timo of the accident, and who was injured, though not seriously), nor could he rsme-inber even starting to drive his family out to the Tsierl. He could remember driving a fare to the Ihinedin Railway Station on the morning of January 12, but not anything that occurred afterwards. Ivy Kirk, 17 years of age, living at Bush road, Mosgiel, said that on Monday, January 12, she was riding a horas- along Gordon road towards th. 9 station. She reached the crossing just as the train from town was approaching. "While waiting for the train to cross she saw a motor car approaching from the opposite side at about 20 miles an hour, so she judged.' She first saw tin's car on tba Mosgiel side of the 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 bacame restive, and she did not see the actual collision. From what she saw she imagined the motor driver had no idea of the train, and as far as she could see did not slacken speed. At the corner the train would have been in view of the motor driver if he had been on the lookout. She did not hear the train whistle, she was not listening for it, and the wind was blowing awny from her.

Elizabeth Fulton Milne, aged 15 years, and living at Mosgiel. was at the Gordon road crossing, also. She thought the oar was travelling fairly fast. When it came to the house at the corner she and her companion held up 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 saw a woman stand up in it and call out something. The collision occurred shortly afterwards, and the occupants of the car were all thrown out.

Similar evidence was givon by a companion of the previous witness, corroborating her statement of what occurred. Mr Pringle, stationmaster at Mosgiel,. stated that tests had been jnade with a motor car, a man being placed up the lino 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 yards up the line, at a distance of 30 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. Harkness, fireman on the train, deposed that the driver blew a long whistle at about 280 yards from the crossing and another about 50 yards away. When the train was some 30 yards from tho crossing witness saw the motor car emerge from behind the building, and called to the driver lo_ stop. The emergency brake was applied _at once. Witness Slid not see tho* collision, the car having passed from his (the left) side of the cab. W. Hade, the driver of the brain, corroborated the fireman's evidence as to distance. He said he bad made one application of the air-brake after the first whistle, and would be travelling at fmva 18 to 20 miles an hour approaching the: crossing. He saw nothing of the ear, but applied the emergency brake at the call of the fireman. When an application ol the. brake h->d been made before, the emergency brake had lost some of its power, and tho train would be running front .13 to 20 miles an hour when it struck the motor car. He faw the oar appear at his side and heard a slight thud. It wa* diverted towards the cattle-stop, and hfi thought it was the impact against the post that threw deceased out. The .Coroner reviewed tho evidence at some length, seating that it was not possible to state definitely whether Tilbury saw the train but thoyprht he 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, witty tho wind blowing the sound away and thrt obstructions between him and the engine* He was reputed to be a very careful driven, and was likely to be the more careful m that he had with him his family, to whktj he was said to be devoted. Ho was hintself now suffering from an impaired mera» ory, and oould tell them nothing of whajj occurred. No blame could be attaches to the driver or the fireman of the trains it wa3 difficult to see how they could hav<t 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 safe* guarded. He knew the department's argu* rr.ent, that it was not a. dangerous cross* ing from a railway point of view; tha( there were many more dangerous; and tha( to safeguard them all would require- tbt expenditure of a large sum of money. These arguments, however, had no weight 'if thero 'was danger, and although it had been shown that a driver on the look-out could see the 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 tip, 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 the through trains. In his opinion thero was at least as much danger from slow trains as from through trains, and this was the time for tho department, to take measures to safeguard the crossing. He would find that tho deceased died from shock following fracture of the skull through being thrown from a motor car which had been hit by 1 tho engino and had collided with the post of a oattlo stop; and he would add as a rider that, this and other accidents having demonstrated'clanger to the public, the department should immediately take steps to" have effective action taken to safeguard the public.