DRIVER'S LACK OF EXPERIENCE

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 240, 11 May 1933, Page 5

DRIVER'S LACK OF EXPERIENCE

Island Bay Car Fatality

CORONER'S VIEW

INQUEST ON VICTIMS

Press Association. —Copyright, Wellington, Today.

The opinion that the death of the.four victims of the tragic accident which occurred at midnight on April 1, when a car lunged over a 40-foot bank at Island Bay, was duo to the driver's lack :of a'kill and experience of handling a car, was expressed by the coroner, Mr. E. Gilbertson, when delivering his verdict on the inquest today. The victims wore Olga Beryl Bardebes, Ernest Joseph Dickson, James Henry Wood and his wife, Margaret Uilnior' Wood. Reviewing the evidence the coroner said there was a sharp conflict as to the understanding that had been come to as to the driving of the car. Review of Evidence The coroner after review of the evidence said he had no doubt (hat Hooker (the driver) decided not to wait for the return of Fitzgerald or Hoare and intentionally drove the car away. The car moved down the hill and successfully negotiated a rightangle turn to the right, which occurs 100 yards after- the starting point, then gathering momentum it failed to negotiate the hairpin bend to the left 37 yards beyond the first turn. When it was realised the car was travelling dangerously, Dickson leaped over from the back seat to try and help with the brake and one of the ladies called to Hooker to be careful and he replied: "I can't hold it." Plunge Over Bank The car went straight on and at the hairpin bend plunged over the 40-foot bank to the road below, turning a complete somersault and landing on its hood upside down and back to front. The road at the point where the car plu'ged over showed two skid marks of 12 feet, showing that the wheels had been locked for that distance on the descent by the operation of one or other of the brakes.

Limited Experience Hooker is a young man, 22 years old and his experience in driving is very limited. He had never driven a car alone without a competent companion beside him. Pie had not and never had been the holder of a driving license. In the coroner's view, to handle for the first time at night, on this dangerous road, a car such as this one with its unusual lefthand drive and unfamiliar position of the clutch, foot and hand brakes, the accelerator and other controls and its indifferent braking would have proved a sufficiently awkward task for a seasoned driver. For Hooker, relatively unfamiliar as he was, with the handling of cars, to have undertaken it greatly increased the danger. The death of these four people was, in the coroner's opinion, due to the driver's lack of skill and experience in the handling of a car.