A LIGHTLESS COLLISION

Taranaki Daily News, 18 February 1933, Page 3

A LIGHTLESS COLLISION

CLAIM BY MOTOR-CYCLIST

DOES NOT REMEMBER ACCIDENT.

CONCUSSION AND BROKEN WRISTS.

Because of injuries, neither the motorcyclist, Andrew Florence Bourke, nor his pillion rider was able to describe the accident as a result of which Bourke claimed £4OO general and £l2B 2s 6d special damages in the Supreme Court at New Plymouth yesterday. The defendants were Harold Jessop and Clara Adleander Maindonald, registered as owners of the motor-car with which there was a collision near Jerseydale, on the Eltham-Kaponga Road, on October 28. Neither vehicle had lights showing at the time of the accident. The hearing will be concluded this morning. Mr. A. Chrystal appeared for Bourke and Mr. R. H. Quilliam for the defendants, both of Eltham. The car was driven by Cyril F. Maindonald, farm manager, Awatuna. The plaintiff was described as an apprentice engineer living at Eltham. The jury comprised Messrs E. G. Pearce (foreman), P. G. McEwen, S. D. Jury, A. C. Challis, Herbert Parkinson, N. K. Proctor, S. J. Holden, William Donohue, W. G. Loch, J. C. Frewin, S. A. Black, Douglas Weir.

Bourke had broken the lamp bracketwhen riding from Stratford to Eltham, said Mr. Chrystal. As he did not intend 5 - to return to Eltham on the night of the accident he did not take the lamp when he rode to Mangatoki with his brother, George Bourke, riding pillion. At Mangatoki, however, he found it was necessary to take his brother back to Eltham, so they rode the cycle on the return journey without a light. In order to avoid the picture traffic they did not leave Mangatoki till late in the evening. Rain clouds gathered and it became very dark. Unfortunately s Andrew Bourk; received rather severe concussion and could therefore remember nothing of the accident, or what happened for about a quarter of a ■ mile before reaching the scene. George Bourke was very badly injured, too, and was still in hospital. There did not appear to have been -any - eyewitness of the collision. . The car was travelling from Eltham towards Kaponga. The earliest arrivals on the scene arranged for the presence of a doctor, and the first persons to make any observations concerning the way the accident happened were Dr. Saunders, Eltham, and his friend, W. J. A. Farnell, who accompanied him to the scene. Rain commenced to fall after they arrived. WHAT THE DOCTOR FOUND. Dr. Douglas H. Saunders, Eltham, said that on reaching the scene of the accident after midnight he found the car on the left-hand side of the road as one faced Kaponga. The front of the car was on the grass and the back wheels on the edge of the bitumen. The motorcycle was on the left-hand side of. the car. George Bourke was lying on the grass, about five paces towards Eltham, with his feet towards the bitumen. He had severe injuries to his right leg. In the ear were Miss Donaldson, with an injury to her leg, and Andrew Bourke, suffering from concussion, shock and broken wrists. Witness attended to the three injured persons and sent Andrew Bourke to th® hospital in the car of a neighbour. At the same time he notified the constable at Eltham. George Bourke had to wait for an ambulance from Hawera, so witness had to wait with the patient about an hour. It had just commenced to rain mistily when he reached the locality. On the road were two parallel marks on the right-hand side facing Kaponga and reaching diagonally across the bitumen to the back of Maindonald’s car. There were fine fragments of glass, mostly on the right-hand side;of the road. The rim of a. headlight was lying in the centre of the bitumen. Until the ambulance arrived, witness signalled with his torch to direct traffic to the side of the road to prevent punctures from the broken glass. Andrew Bourke was suffering from concussion and shock and was dazed. The right wrist was fractured simply on the radius bone, which was not greatly displaced. The left wrist was more seriously hurt, the radius being splinter®!; it was a comminuted fracture. The ligament joining the radius and ulna bone was torn, the latter bone being forced outwards. He was in hospital 10 weeks during which he was twice under an anaesthetic. Bourke would be capable of resuming his- occupation in about a month, the doctor thought. To Mr. Quilliam: He saw Constable Townsend leaving Eltham for the scene of the accident. He told the constable of the accident, but did not think he mentioned the marks he had seen on the road. The Bourkes were not sent to the Hawera Hospital, because they had both been patients of his. George Bourke had asked to go to witness’ private hospital at Eltham. He could not say from which car-lamp the broken glass or the rim came. He considered that as an engineer Andrew Bourke would be affected because of the restricted movements of the left wrist. He had lost about 15 per cent, of the movement. NEITHER HAD LIGHTS. Wilfred J. A. Farnell, headmaster of the Kaponga School, who was with Dr. Saunders at the scene of the accident, gave corroborative evidence. Cyril Maindonald had said to him, “That’s what comes of driving without lights.” Witness asked if he had lights. “Neither of us had any lights,” was the reply. Andrew Bourke said he was riding on the left-hand side of the road at about 20 miles per hour up to a point about

a quarter of a mile before the scene of the accident. His next recollection was waking up in a private hospital at Eltham. After that he had his wrists set and was then unconscious for the remainder of the day. He was in his fifth year as an apprentice enginee. and had earned £2 5s a week. ; ;f

To Mr. Quilliam: He had removed the lamp from the broken bracket on the day of the accident. He would not have used the cycle that night but to oblige his brother. He had discussed the accident with Miss Donaldson, who was also a patient in the private hospital. He told her he could not remember anything about the accident; he had made a similar statement to the police. Richard B. Foord, motor engineer, Eltham, said that from the damage he judged the cycle had been struck diagonally from the left-hand direction. The front wheel was badly damaged and the fork and contiguous' part were bent to the right; He considered the machine had been thrown on its left side. He had examined the car, too. The left front mudguard was beaten back. Both lamp rims were missing. The left dumb-iron showed evidence of a blow having been struck there. The mark on the dumb-iron corresponded with marks left by the blow on the cycle wheel. It would be difficult for a motorcar driver to place his position on the road at night without lights. A motorcyclist without lights could place his position better. After demonstrating with the damaged cycle and a cycle that had not been damaged, the witness admitted that, from the appearance of the front wheel there might have been a head-on collision. However, taking the condition of the forks into account he contended the car must have struck the cycle from the side. NON-SUIT ASKED FOR.

Mr. Quilliam applied for a non-suit. He said the evidence did -not establish that the car was on its wrong side. He did not admit the car was on its wrong side, but assuming it was, the evidence showed that Bourke had been guilty or contributory negligence and was thus disentitled to claim for damages. Even though there were no lights on the car the driver was entitled to assume that a vehicle coming towards him was properly lighted. His Honour reserved decision on the point. Mr. Quilliam then outlined his case. He said that if the car was on the road in the position the defence suggested, then the defence must fail- Both Maindonald and his companion, Miss Donaldson, would swear that, the car did not swerve across the road. Counsel submitted the collision was head-on and that the car had not struck the cycle diagonally. Constable Townsend, Eltham, said he went to the scene of the accident early on the morning of October 29. Maindonald drove him. It was raining hard. The car was on the left side of tha road, the cycle lying on its left, side with the front wheel under the rear part of the running board of the car. There was no lamp-glass 'or globe on the left side of the car. There was no glass in the right lamp, but there was a bulb. Some lamp glass was scattered about the middle of the road. A gouge mark extended back along the bitumen for 13ft 6in from where the cycle was lying. Undoubtedly it had been made when the cycle was dragged by the car. To Mr. Chrystal: It was raining hard when he arrived on the scene. Rain might wash out light track marks but not skid marks, except after hours. There was no skid mark when he arrived. Ernest Leslie Eagar, clerk of the court at Eltham, said he drove the constable to the scene of the accident a few .days afterwards. He assisted to make the measurements. Cross-examined, he said

his impression was that the whole of the front 'of the car was off the bitumen. Cyril A. F. Maindonald, Awatuna, said he had borrowed the car from his mother to take Miss Donaldson home, five miles from Eltham, because she was ilk She had come into the town on his motor-cycle. They left Eltham about 11.30 p.m. The lights were then all right. . On the way to Mangatoki the lights continued* to operate properly till he reached the top of Bourke’s Hill. He then put them out because they were beginning to become dull, his object being to re-charge the battery. He knew the road very well. He thought there were two lights when he left Eltham, but found afterwards that .the only light functioning was that on the right side. He put the lights out at Hastings Road. The first he knew of the danger was when he saw a dark : object. This hit him. He was travelling in the middle of the road about 15 to 20 miles per hour. He did not swerve the car. He saw the object just as it hit him. He pulled to the side of the road' and put the brakes on.

He went to ,the front where he saw Andrew Bourke lying with one leg under the cycle, the front wheel of which was * touching the car in front of the back wheel. George Bourke was about four yards away on the edge of the asphalt. He told the Bourkes he was going to get the police and a doctor. George Bourke pleaded with him not to get the police. INSPECTION OF SCENE. . Eventually he arranged with a motorist to get Dr. Saunders, who arrived in about a quarter of an hour. It was dark at the time of the accident, rain starting just afterwards. Witness saw no marks on the road; he did not look for any. He returned to the site uyith Constable Townsend, but did not- see. any marks or glass, as he sat in the car. Later he returned to the locality .with the constable. He then saw. a mark on the bitumen, about a quarter of an inch in depth, on the left side. ■ George Bourke said nothing that night about witness being on the wrong side of the road. Neither Dr. Saunders nor Farnell said anything to him about marks on the road.

Doris Donaldson, Eltham, who was in the car with Maindonald, gave corroborative evidence. ; Expert evidence was given by Hugh Nathaniel Rowe, motor-cycle He considered a head-on collision' had caused the damage to the cycle; he had no doubt about that. The cycle coula not have been struck from the left* because the damage indicated otherwise.