MOTOR ACCIDENT.

Waipa Post, Volume VII, Issue 336, 31 July 1914, Page 4

MOTOR ACCIDENT.

DOUBLE SOMERSAULT AT A DANGEROUS CORNER.

On Tuesday evening a motor car, the property of Messrs Broadfoot and Finlay, of Te Kuiti, met with a mishap on the Te Awa-mutu-Kihikihi Road which endangered the lives of the four occupants. The car was being driven from Kihikihi in the early evening, and, when rounding the sharjf bend of the road at O’Connor’s hill—a spot recognised by drivers of all vehicles as being verv dangerous overturned twice in quick succession. The driver (Mr Boyle, of Cambridge) states that the ball came off the radius rod, thus throwing the steering gear out of action, and the car skidding turned a double somersault finally coming to a standstill in a hollow of the road. The three occupants were thrown clear, excepting the driver, who was pinned under the car each time it overturned. He had a miraculous escape from fatal injury, although he had to be conveyed to a private hospital immediately after the accident. Mr W. McCathie (Kihikihi) also received a very severe shaking, and has been confined to his bed since the accident. His injuries though painful are pot of a serious nature. The other, two occupants, Mr Harris (Kihikihi) and Mr Cranston (Te Kuiti) escaped practically uninjured. Enquiry this morning shows that the driver is making a very satisfactory recovery, and will be. about again in a few days. It is likely that this mishap will be followed by a united appeal being made to the controlling local authority to widen the road for a few hundred yards on either side of the actual bend which would considerably lessen the risk of accident.

The car was very much damaged, the front portion in particular being almost beyond repair. The scene of the mishap is a recognised danger spot. With an exceptionally short radius the road makes a very sharp bend, and at a spot where the grade is particularly heavy. The're haye been several minor accidents at this turning, and drivers of all classes of vehicles exercise more than usual care when approaching it.