FATAL CRASH ON MAIN NORTH ROAD.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 77, 31 March 1931, Page 9

FATAL CRASH ON MAIN NORTH ROAD.

INQUEST CONCERNING DEATH AFTER COLLISION. The circumstances surrounding the death of Jeremiah M’Mahon, a contractor, who died as the result of injuries received on the morning of March 10, were investigated by the Coroner, Mr E. D. Mosley, this afternoon. M’Mahon, who was aged thirty-five years, was a passenger in a side-car which crashed into the rear of a sanitary cart on the Main North Road on the south side of Belfast. lie was badly cut about the head, and died in the Christchurch Hospital at 5 a.m. on March 10, four hours after the accident. The motor-cycle to which the side-car was attached, was ridden by George Munro, an employee of the Waimakariri River Trust. M’Mahon had been doing cartage contracting for three or four years for the River Trust. Sergeant Wolfindale represented the police at to-day’s proceedings and Mr F. W. Johnston represented Munro, the rider of the motor-cycle. Dr Mary Russell, a house surgeon at the Christchurch Hospital, described the injuries suffered by M’Mahon, .who was deeply unconscious when admitted to hospital. His condition was hopeless and he died about three hours after admission. David Ritchie, a labourer employed by the Waimairi County Council, said that at 1.30 a.m. on March 9, he was driving a sanitary cart on the Main North Road at Belfast. The two red lights behind the cart were burning brightly. He was driving at six miles an hour. The night was half moonlight and half cloudy. Ritchie added that he was driving his cart 3ft 4in on the correct side of the road from the centreline. His cart was run into by a motor-cycle and sidecar, the sidecar striking the cart. He bad not noticed the approach of the motorcycle, but his mate had. Immediately the accident occurred, he had a telephone message sent to the police. He could not estimate the speed of the motor-cycle, but he did not think that it was travelling fast. He saw two lights on the motor-cycle after the accident. Just about the time of the collision a motor-car with dazzling headlights approached from the opposite directtion—the north. The lights were so dazzling as to cause him to pull his horse further over to the correct side of the road. Mr Johnston: I understand. that this motor-car with the dazzling lights was some distance away when it dazzled you?—Yes. In reply to a further question, Ritchie said that the motor-cyclist would not have had time to pass his cart before the motor-car reached him. (Evidence continued in Stop Press.)