MOTOR CAR OVERTURNS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16838, 29 December 1928, Page 16

MOTOR CAR OVERTURNS

SKIDS ON LOOSE SHINGLE A motor accident with serious eonsequences occurred at the Horseshoe Bend, near Timaru, on Sunday. As a result of injuries received, the driver of the car, Mr. Erskine, aged 09, a retired farmer, residing at St. Kilda, was admitted to the Timaru Public Hospital. Mr. Erskine was driving a heavy motor car from Dunedin to Timaru, and was accompanied by his wife and daughter and Mr. and Mrs. J. D. M'Robie and three children, also of Dunedin. When the car was rounding the bend it, apparently skidded in some loose shingle and turned a com-i plete somersault, Mr. Erskine being pinned beneath the vehicle. Mr. M'Robie endeavored to release him, but was unable to do so unaided. As soon as assistance was obtained Mr. Erskine was released, but was then unconscious. Miss Agnes M'Robie was found to be suffering from a fractured cheek bone. The other occupants of the car escaped with minor cuts and bruises. The Horseshoe Bend is a notorious spot to South Canterbury motorists. It is on the Timaru side of Mahahihi. The approach is excellent, and the bend, to the eye, presents no difficulties. However, it is graded ■ the > wrong way, and once a car strikes the loose shingle the unsuspecting motorist meets trouble. No sign posts have been erected to warn motorists. As many as seven capsizes in a day have been reported by settlers near the bend, and within recent months at feast three Dunedin-owned cars have come to grief at the comer. One afternoon a car left the road and shot through the hedge, and the residents waited/)!! the corner, expecting further accidents. Twenty minutes later a Dunedin journalist's car left the road, somersaulted, and ended on its side. A week later, a Dunedin traveller's car was capsized.