MOTOR CAR LEAVES ROAD

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3469, 22 May 1934, Page 4

MOTOR CAR LEAVES ROAD

SMASHES TELEPHONE POST. A rather sensational smash occurred at about 3 o’clock last Sunday afternoon, at a point of the Te Awa-m,utu-Kihikihi main highway a few yards beyond the end of the bitumen at the borough boundary. Mr Guy Wellington, of Owairaka, was driving his Plymouth five-seater car, and after negotiating the bend at a space stated to be about 20 to 25 miles per hour he applied the brakes to get round the next bend, to the left, nearly at the foot of the grade, but the brakes failed to act and the car left the road, crashed into a telephone post (snapping it completely in half about 10 feet from the ground) and then breaking through the wire fence into Mr F. D. McGovern’s paddock before the driver could bring it to a stop. The impact with the post and fence considerably damaged the car, and splintered glass caused scratches and minor cuts to the occupants of the vehicle, Mr and Mrs Wellington and their children. Help was soon at'hand, and though very considerably shaken and bruised, the party were later able to proceed to their home, but the car was brought in to Te Awamutu by a wrecking car. Questioned afterwards, Mr Wellington said he could g‘ive no explanation as to the cause of the accident, other than that the brakes were not in good order. He was positive he was not “ speeding,” and had left Auckland before 10 a.m. It was somewhere about 3 o’clock when he passed through Te Awamutu. A moderate speed and the fairly steep down grade would account for the snapping of the telephone post.