LEVEL CROSSING COLLISION

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23288, 25 August 1945, Page 4

LEVEL CROSSING COLLISION

Five Men Killed Railcar Driver Free From Blame i N.Z.P.A.) NAPIER, Aug. 24. The inquest into the deaths of five men—Frank Wane, Thomas Leonard Rowe. Raymond William Horne, Alexander Harvey Bryan, and Frederick Alexander Lambert, who were killed in a level crossing collision on August 6 with a railear was concluded to-day, when a verdict of death due to shock and multiple injuries was given. Dr. J. J. Foley, medical superintendent of the Napier Public Hospital, stated that death in three cases had been instantaneous, the other men dying shortly after. Dr. T. C. Higgins, who was near the scene of the crash, said he heard the noise of the impact and saw the debris flying through the air and the railcar speeding to a stop with debris piled in front of it. When he first saw the railcar, it was travelling at the usual speed. He heard the sound of the siren before the crash. John Hayward McDonald, owner of the truck, stated that he did not know how the deceased came to be on the lorry, which was hired by the Public Works Department. They were not there from his instructions. His drivers had been told not to carry passengers. The deceased Lambert, said John CCollins, Public Works Department engineer, was understood to be travelling to Napier on the lorry to get some medicine as he had been on the sick list. Reasonable Speed The driver of the railcar, Angus Mitchell Buttolph. of Wairoa, stated that he left Napier at 8.20 a.m. and reached the Westshore railway crossing at 8.27 a.m. The speed would be about 40 miles an hour. Witness said he saw the truck when 35 yards from the point of impact and the truck was about 25 to 30 yards from it. His speed was then 40 to 42 miles ah hour, the maximum speed allowed being 50 miles an hour. They were allowed to go over crossings at that speed. Witness said he sounded the horn about 100 yards from the crossing, when he saw the lorry he kept the horn going all the time. When

he saw the lorry was not going to stop he applied the brakes. He estimated the speed of the lorry at 25 to 30 miles an hour. Witness thought the lorry driver must have seen the railcar. As a result, of the impact the points opened, the leading bogies continuing on the main line, while the tailing bogies went on the loop line. When the railcar stopped the leading bogies were off the line. The lorry caught on fire. Witness immediately instructed the guard to evacuate the passengers through the rear door. He then used two fire extinguishers in an effort to put the fire out. Witness said he had been driving railcars for about five years.

The Coroner added a rider that the driver of the lorry attempted to cross the railway line in contravention of the regulations. No blame was attachable to the railcar driver. He also made a recommendation that compulsory stop signs and automatic signals be placed at, the crossing.