FIFTY-THREE DEATHS

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 494, 1 July 1932, Page 5

FIFTY-THREE DEATHS

Toll of Fatal Accidents in Past Six Months.

MANY MOTORING MISHAPS. Motoring mishaps or drowning have accounted for fifty-two deaths in che i Canterbury and West Coast provinces in the first six months of this year. Thirty-six of these deaths were during the first three months of ; the year, but the addition of sixteen names since then has not lowered the monthly average very greatly. The coming of winter and the consequent loss of popularity of the beaches has caused a falling off in the risk of drowning accidents, and there has been only one death from this cause during the past quarter. As an offset to this, however. motoring accidents have shown an increase. In the past three months there have been ten fatal accidents through collisions of various types, as well as a large number o'f ' accidents in which people have suffered injury of greater or lesser degree, i Motor-cars were concerned in nine cases and motor-cycles in four. Two cyclists and four pedestrians suffered. A noteworthy feature is that in nearly every case of a motoring fatality, a case has later been brought against one of the participants by the police. Analysis of Position. An analysis of the reported fatalities in Canterbury and the West Coast is contained in the following table:

This list does not include all the atalities. as in several cases the cause o: the death was not found.

Urban Outer Area. District. Total. Drowning — 14 14 Motoring: accidents— Car and motorcycle 2 3 5 Car and bicycle .2 4 6 Car and train . . — 1 1 Car and pedestrian 2 1 3 Motor-cycle and pedestrian . . — 1 1 Skids. capsizes, etc 2 2 4 Railway 1 3 4 Burns 2 — 2 Machinery — 2 2 Mountaineering . . — 2 2 General 3 5 8 14 3S 52