FATAL SMASH IN WOODHAM ROAD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18547, 22 August 1928, Page 9

FATAL SMASH IN WOODHAM ROAD.

MOTOR-CYCLIST CHARGED WITH NEGLIGENCE. JURY DECIDES THAT MOSS IS NOT GUILTY. Trevor Walter Moss was charged in the Supreme Court before Mr Justice Adams this morning with negligently driving a motor-cycle on April 13, 1928, on Woodham Road, and thereby causing the death of Margaret O’Connor. Mr Thomas appeared for accused, and Mr Donnelly for the Crown. Mr Donnelly said the case was a very painful one. It was laid under the Motor Vehicles Act. It was not a charge of manslaughter, but was a miner charge. The facts were that a firm of sewerage contractors were making a sewer connection in Woodham Road. The work was not finished, and there was a quantity of spoil lying on either side of a trench. The whole was roped off, and lit with four lamps. The evidence would show accused came along the road at a very high rate of speed, ran into the spoil, and jumped 20 feet across the trench. The girl was thrown off and, some time after, died in hospital. Witnesses put the speed down at thirty-five or forty miles an hour. Accused had no light, but had a torch strapped on the handlebars. At the inquest, accused said that he saw lights, and thought he had steered round the obstruction.

The case was no doubt a sad one, but a jury would have to come to their decision on the facts as presented to them, and not let sentiment interfere with their judgment.

“ Four Lamps on Trench.” Sydney George Ay ling, a plumber, said that he was a member of the firm which had the contract to put in the sewer in question. He was not on the job himself, but heard in the evening that there had been an accident, lie went to the place. On entering Woodham Road, witness could see lights at the place of excavation. There was a clearance of 14ft 6in at one end and 15ft at the other, round which vehicles could go. The whole was roped round, and had four lamps on it. The first lamp was sft 6in from the gutter, and the other 19ft away. Another lamp was 7ft 6in away from the side of the road, with a fourth 15ft away. The banks of spoil were about 2ft or 3ft high, and were about loft apart. The trench was rather deeper than usual. The lighting was done in the usual manner, and passed by the Drainage Board inspector. Mr Thomas: Excavations are now much better lit than they were before the accident, are they not?—Yes. Picked Up The Girl. Herbert Butterfield, a City Council driver, said that he was standing beside the trench on the night in question. He heard accused coming along. He jumped the trench, and witness went round to pick up the girl. A torch was strapped on the handle-bars, but there was no light. Accused’s speed was thirty-five to forty miles an hour. Witness saw no light when the motor-cycle was approaching. Witness saw a lady on an unlighted cycle nearly run into the ditch. She jumped off about a yard from the ditch. George Phillips said that he was standing with the previous witness, and heard a motor-cycle approach. It passed like a flash, struck the trench, rose in the air, and fell or. the other side. He could see no light on the cycle. To Mr Thomas, witness said he did not know, till he went over to pick up the rider, that there was a girl on the pillion. It was possible to soe lights of cars 100 yards away, but not to see the obstruction from that distance. Constable R. Miller, who went to the scene of the accident that night, said he could see the lights round the excavation, several chains away. Sergeant W. T. Kelly said that on May 11 he conducted an inqupst on the body of Margaret O’Connor. / Accused’s Story. Acu:sed, in evidence, said he was a plasterer. As he came along about 100 yards away he saw two lights. His re collection of the events on that night was not clear as he did not come to till he was in the hospital. The lights he saw were on the left, and he swung out to go round them. The next thing he knew he was in the hospital. He had to go slow on account of bumps in the road where sewer connections had been put in. The torch he had on the bicycle showed fifteen feet.

George Buist. coal merchant, of Christchurch, said he went to see his daughter in Woodham Road on the night of the accident. He drove his car. Frojn the position of the lights, witness got a wrong idea of the locality of the excavation, and nearly hit it. The lights might easily have been taken for vehicular lights. Lewis Norton Bramley said that he rode his motor-cycle along Woodham Road on the night of tbe accident. From the position of the lights it appeared that the or*ening was in the centre, and he had difficulty in getting round it. Walton George Thomas, a motor mechanic, said that he had motor racing experience, and in t.he course of this had about a dozen spills. It was impossible to hit an obstacle which would stop a motor-cycle at a greater speed than fifteen miles an hour, and remain on the bicycle. The Matter of Lights. Addressing the jury, Mr Thomas said that the Crown had only one witness who was definite that Moss had no light, and another was not sure. These two witnesses were talking together at the time. It would be physically impossible for a motor-cycle to travel at forty miles an hour over a street which had recently had sewers laid down in it. They had all had the misfortune to travel on streets in Christchurch where sewer connections had been recently laid on. It was practically a corrugated road. There was no real negligence on the part of the accused Mr Donnelly said that the matter of lights was important. Moss had a light which was not, under the circumstances, adequate. The question of speed resolved itself into this. Was the speed reasonable under the circumstances>?

Summing up, his Honor said that it was for the jury to determine first, whether there was a light at all, or, whether there was a reasonable light rn r ’er the circumstances. His honor said that when considering the speed, the circumstances had again to be considered in coming to a conclusion. „ . The jury, after forty minutes retirement, returned a verdict of not guilty.