STREET FATALITY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18652, 22 August 1930, Page 2

STREET FATALITY.

CHARGE OF NEGLIGENT DRIVING. MOTOR DRIVER ACQUITTED. Lengthy evidence was heard at the Courthouse yesterday, when Messrs P. B. Foote and H. A. Innes-Jones, J.P.’s, heard a case in which Robert William Cunningham was charged that, on July 26, he did negligently drive a motor lorry in Arthur Street, thereby causing the death of James Stewart; further, with driving the lorry in a manner dangerous to the public. Mr W. H. Walton appeared for accused, and Senior-Sergeant Mathieson prosecuted. Dr. W. R. Fea said that shortly after 6 p.m. on July 26, he was called to the scene of the accident and found deceased lying on his back on the pavement, his head being supported by another man. The right side of the head was crushed towards the mid line, there was considerable haemorrhage and a severe fracture of the skull. Deceased was breathing his last when witness arrived, and died in a couple of minutes. In his opinion death was caused by a fracture of the skull and laceration of the brain. These injuries would be consistent with having been crushed under some object such as a motor car.

John William Elder, a hairdresser, said that when he was in the vicinity of the gasworks, coming on to the intersection of Butler and Arthur Streets, he noticed the lights of a lorry approaching up Arthur Street, and, just after seeing the lights, he heard a crash. When he looked round he saw a man falling towards the radiator of the lorry. The man then spun out from the lorry as if somersaulting, and then went underneath the lorry. When witness went to cross the road he noticed the lorry on an angle, with the front part to the right hand side, and the rear portion to the left hand side of the road. When he arrived, the lorry had been run off the man. The deceased was lying on the wrong side of the road near the centre. He was on the right hand side of the crown of the road. The impact took place on the left hand side of the crown of the road. The whole thing happened very suddenly, and the lorry was pulled up practically instantaneously. He did not hear any horn sounded before the crash. The lights of the lorry appeared to be good. To Mr Walton: The lights were showing pretty well. Witness could not judge the speed at which the vehicle was travelling. He did not think the lorry could have travelled more than half its length after witness had seen the man on the radiator. When he saw the lorry approaching it was on the left hand side of the crown of the road. The comer was a very dark one, and this is probably why witness did not see the man walking across the road. In his opinion the accident was not caused through the lorry being on the wrong side of the road, nor was it caused by the driver speeding. It was a clear night, though it was dark. Oscar Hesselburg, a railway porter, said he was a passenger with Cunningham, and would estimate the speed of the lorry when it was in Arthur Street at fifteen miles per hour, with the lights showing well. The vehicle was travelling on the left hand side of the centre of the road. Witness saw a man standing on the right hand side of the lorry, and when he first saw the man he would be about ten feet away. The man then stopped and took two paces in front of the lorry. As soon as he did this the driver applied the brakes and swung the vehicle to the right. When the lorry swung, the man was right in front, and practically near the buffer. The lorry had practically stopped by the time that deceased was a foot or eighteen inches away, and the speed would be about six miles per hour. The lorry continued its course to the right with the brakes on. The man was struck and was carried with the lorry about four feet.-He had come back on the radiator and was falling the way the lorry was going. The lorry was stopped and it was found that the man’s head was facing west and his feet east. To Mr Walton; The deceased did not come within the focus of the lights until he stepped in front of the lorry. The lights showed on a garden as the vehicle proceeded up Arthur Street till the intersection was reached, and, at the intersection the lights swung to the western side of Butler Street at its intersection with Arthur Street. The lights were not shining on that particular part of the road from where deceased was presumed to come from; they did not shine on the deceased until the lorry was within ten feet of him. Under the circumstances, witness did not think that a collision could have been avoided. To the Bench: “I cannot say whether on a straight road the lights would reach the footpath on either side. Cunningham and I were not talking at the time.” John McKim, omnibus engineer for the Timaru Borough Council, stated that on August 18, at about 8 p.m., he carried out several tests in the vehicle, sitting alongside the driver. The first test was taken with a view to determining how far distant a man standing on the spot where the bloodstains were found could be seen from a lorry travelling and kept in constant view. The distance was approximately sixty yards, and could be seen right up to the spot where the iwan was standing. The driver took the same course in the lorry as he did on the night of the accident. On the second test it was arranged that a constable should leave the kerbing to walk across the street when the lorry was sixty yards away. The constable was to step off the footpath on the Post Office side of the pole near the corner. The horn was blown as arranged when sixty yards from the corner as a signal to the constable to commence to walk across the street. The lorry was driven at a speed of fourteen miles per hour, slowing down to twelve near the corner, and was stopped at the point at right angles to the course that the constable was following. If the constable had continued another step, he would have been struck by the right hand part of the lorry. His position when the lorry stopped was standing on top of a manhole, approximately seven feet from where the blood was, in an easterly direction. For the third test the lorry was driven up Arthur Street in a westerly direction on such a course as to have the centre of the lorry pass over the point where the bloodstains were found. The pole on the western corner of Butler and Arthur Streets was not in the direct rays of the lamps. A further test was made to ascertain the position of the lights, and it was shown that these shone to the left further up the hill in Butler Street. The lamps were quite up to standard, and in his opinion, complied with the regulations. At a distance of thirty yards from the lamps, the light had a spread of thirty feet in front of the lorry.

Witness was cross-examined at some length by Mr Walton. He said that he was sitting on the left hand side of the driver, and his position and viewpoint would be different from that of the driver. Lights on vehicles travelling west up Arthur Street were thrown on the garden and away from pedestrians

on the right hand side of the motor vehicle to a certain extent. He knew Cunningham to be a careful and competent driver, and fifteen miles an hour would be a reasonable speed to travel down that street at night time. The street lights at the corner threw the lights in a circle, and it was dark outside of that circle. It was possible that if Stewart was stepping on to the road within twenty feet of the lorry, he would not come within the beam of light. He had heard that recommendations had been made to Borough officials to improve the lights at that corner, and he believed that the proposal had been made to have three lights suspended. If the lorry was within four feet of the man when he stepped in front of it, nothing could prevent a collision, and he did not think under the circumstances the driver could have avoided an accident.

Constable Walden gave similar evidence as to that given at the inquest, as to visiting the scene shortly after the accident and taking measurements. The lights and the brakes of the lorry were good. The night was dark. Witness had watched the street since the accident, and it was the general rule for traffic to bear to the right. Witness was cross-examined by Mr Walton concerning the position of the body, and also the tests that had been carried out on August 18. He had known Cunningham for five years, and if he were asked to name a better driver in Timaru he could not. Senior-Sergeant Mathieson: Tfc is possible that even a careful driver could make a mistake sometimes?”— “Quite.” Further evidence as to measurements were given by Constables Swan and Alexander, Constable Swan stating that he did not agree with the plan submitted by Constable Walden. Mr Walton said that should the Bench propose to send Cunningham for trial, he intended to Veserve the defence. He submitted, however, that accused did not have a case to answer, in that he did everything possible to avoid the unfortunate accident. There was nothing in the evidence to prove that Cunningham was negligent, but on the other hand it was pointed out that he was a careful driver and had been forced to swing out when he saw the collision was imminent. The action of the deceased in crossing the road had necessitated this. The Bench retired for fifteen minutes, and on returning, Mr Foote said that after consideration, they held there was not a charge to answer, and they did not propose to send accused for trial. The same applied to the second count, as the evidence was similar. Both charges would be dismissed.