ST. ANDREWS FATALITY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18616, 11 July 1930, Page 11

ST. ANDREWS FATALITY.

| DEATH OF RAILWAY EMPLOYEE. : CHARGE AGAINST MOTORIST. : The adjourned inquest concerning : the death of William Stephen, a rail- • way surfaceman residing at St. : Andrews, who was killed on the main ■ road at St. Andrews on Sunday, June : 22, was concluded yesterday, before the : District Coroner (Mr C. R. Orr- : Walker, 5.M.)., ■ Mr S. I. Fitch (Waimate) appeared • for the driver of the van, Henry : : Saunders; Mr L. E. Finch appeared ! : for the widow; and Mr R. A. Cuthbert | ■ (Christchurch) appeared for the In- j • surance Company as insurers of the ’ driver. Senior-Sergeant Mathieson z conducted the inquiry for the police. ■*, Dr. R. D. King stated that on June : 22nd, at about 5.30 p.m., he received, : a call to an accident at St. Andrews. I : He reached the scene shortly before ! E 6 p.m., and found deceased lying on 2 a raised bank, opposite McDuff’s l garage, six or eight feet behind a light - motor-truck. Deceased had abrasions 1 on the right eye, on both hands, the ~ left elbow, and left ear, and bruises on the right side of the neck. There was a deep cut four inches across the top of the head, with severe bleeding | t from both nose and mouth. The prob- I ' able cause of death was a fracture > of the base of the skull. The injuries would be quite consistent with de- '£ ceased having been knocked down by E a motor-truck. : Mr Fitch: “You agree that there was : quite a lot of traffic with lights about : at the time?”—“Yes.” I Mr Cuthbert: “Where was deceased : lying?”—“On the left-hand side pro- ■ ceeding south, in the same direction | : as the car.” i The Coroner: “Would you say the • car passed over deceased ?”—“He had , ■ the appearance of having been, caught I : in some ironwork, and had obviously i ; been thrown down.” : William Alexander Cumming, Child ‘. ■ Welfare Officer at Timaru, stated that j j : shortly after 5 p.m. he was in the vicinity of St. Andrews, travelling j | north. When passing through St. { Andrews, just to the north of Me- jj Duff’s garage, his attention was drawn | to a car travelling south. The first f thing he saw was a cow on the bonnet k of this car. Witness would then be | approaching about 40 feet away. The l cow looked to be across the bonnet. \ g The whole thing happened in a S moment. The car appeared to swing ! over to the left, going south. The car ! | he was travelling in stopped, and | several people gathered on the scene, a He heard someone remark: “There’s a $ J man under * the car.” The car was (: lifted up, and witness assisted to pull s the body from under the vehicle. The l' I car was on the metal on the left-hand & i side of the road. He could see the g j marks where the car had left the bitumen, these being clearly defined, g Witness stepped the distance of where Jj the car had left the bitumen, and !$j found it to be roughly 22 feet. There ' was quite a lot of glass on the bitumen for two or three yards along. He could • not swear to the distance of where he saw the glass to where the car came * Ito rest. From where he saw the cow, ion the bonnet it appeared as if the! animal had been struck on the flank. It had been carried about three yards. To Mr Fitch: There was a considerable volume of traffic going north, and for a man to swerve to his right to avoid an obstacle would have involved a certain amount of risk. To Mr Cuthbert: “Saunders's car was near the edge of the bitumen. Constable Swan produced a plan of the scene of the accident, which he had compiled on the morning after the accident. From the start of the glass to where blood was found, the distance was 27 feet. The glass was strewn along a distance of 66 feet. To Mr Fitch: The glass had been swept off the bitumen when he visited Sc. Andrews. He did not see any marks of a body having been lying on the metal. These would have been obliterated by the steady stream of traffic.

Constable T. Hammond, St. Andrews, stated that when he arrived at the scene, the truck had the bonnet torn off, and a lamp and a mudguard were damaged. The windscreen was practically all broken. Deceased was lying on the east side of the road on the grass, where he was carried. He was then alive, but unconscious. Constable J. P. Marsh, Waimate, stated that at 9 p.m. Saunders called at the Waimate police station and stated that he wished to report an accident, and that he had killed a man. Witness took a statement, in which Saunders said that he was travelling through St. Andrews at 20 miles an hour, when a cow ran across

from the right-hand side of the road, Witness examined the car at Saunders’s house that night, and found the front of the radiator broken back. The left head-light was smashed off, and the left mudguard dented. There were marks under the vehicle which showed that the undercarriage had come in contact with something. He tested the brakes and found them to be in good order. Frederick Finlay, engine-driver, Waimate, a passenger in the. truck driven by Saunders, said that he was in the front seat with Saunders, and a man named Ottley was sitting behind. Travelling towards St. Andrews at approximately 20 miles an hour, the car came in contact with a cow, which was proceeding in the same direction, practically in front of the car, on the bitumen. The lights on the vehicle were fair.

The Coroner: “They were fair? How far would they show up?”—“About 20 yards.”

Continuing, witness said the cow appeared to be walking in front. It might have been coming across at a slight angle from the east side. He did not have a complete view of the cow, as the collision was over in a moment. Witness did not know if the driver applied the brakes, and did not notice the vehicle change direction. After the cow was truck the car seemed to rise up and veer to the left for three or four yards. After leaving the cow, witness saw a bicycle and man go under the car, the cyclist having been on their left. Before the cow was struck the passengers in the vehicle had been blinded by the glare of approaching traffic. The Coroner: “Well, why would the driver go on when he was blinded?”— “I can’t say.” The Coroner: “No man has a right to go on in that case. He should stop.” To Mr Fitch: He did not know anything about cars, but knew that they were travelling at a slow speed by the number of cars that passed them. Mr Cuthbert: “You do not know much about cars, and your estimate of how far you could see in front is purely guesswork.”—“Yes.” The Coroner: "Then you do not khow much about the speed of the vehicle.” The driver of the car, Henry S , ai ';; dcrs ; cer tifled to the correctness ol the statement given to Constable Marsh. In view of the hour being near dusk, the lights of the vehicle were not showing at their best. He couid possibly see about two chains ahead. Senior-Sergeant Mathieson: “Did

ie you know you were committing a n breach of Hie motor regulations?"— ■e “No.” "Do you know how far ahead your S lights should pick up a substantial e object, according to the regulations?” ■s —“No.” The Coroner: “You don’t know that, and you hold a license? Well, I supu pose you are not the only one.” ° Senior-Sergeant Mathieson: “They n should shine for 150 feet.” a Witness stated that his lights worka ed off the engine, and shone according s to speed. On a dark night, and with 0 no glare from approaching traffic, his s lights could have conformed with the '• regulations. When he hit the cow, t there was another car right opposite, I with another approaching about half 1 a chain away. The animal was com- ■ ing across at an angle. To Mr Finch: Before the impact the 3 car would be travelling at about 20 3 miles an hour. It could not go much ■ faster. He was looking straight ahead. 1 Mr Finch; “Do you not know it was dangerous when dazzled by oncoming . cars to approach a township at twenty • miles an hour?”—“I was not com- • pletely dazzled.” 1 The Coroner; “Could you see a • reasonable distance ahead of you?”— ' “I wouldn't say that.” ■ “Can you account for not having ■ seen the cow or man earlier?"—"No.” 1 Witness said he applied both brakes 1 when he first saw the cow. He had ■ not had any intoxicating liquor on the day of the accident. He had not had any for weeks. Witness was 68 years of age. Recalled, Constable Hammond said that he had never seen deceased riding his bicycle. He had always walked ahead of the cows as far as witness had observed. The cycle did not have a reflector nor a lamp when he inspected it after the accident. The Coroner returned the following verdict: “That deceased. died on June 22, at St. Andrews, of a fracture of the base of the skull, as a result, of being struck by a motor-van driven by Henry Saunders, while deceased was proceeding on the left side of the road driving his cows." CRIMINAL CHARGE. Saunders was then charged in the Magistrate’s Court that, on June 22, he did negligently drive a motor vehicle on the Main South Road thereby causing the death of William Stephen. Saunders was further charged with driving a motor-truck in a manner which might be dangerous to the public. Accused was remanded till July 18 Mr Fitch appeared for accused, and applied for ball, this being granted in accused's own recognisance of £IOO.