DEATH OF A YOUTH.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17837, 9 October 1929, Page 4

DEATH OF A YOUTH.

COLLISION WITH MOTOR. INQUEST AT MORRINSVILLE. RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL. (Special to Times.) MORRINSVILLE, Wednesday. The adjourned inquest into the death of Sydney Pryor, a youth who was killed as the result _of a collision with a motor truck driven by Conrad Lewis, on 30lh. September, was held before Mr C. M. Gummer, district coroner, apd a jury. Dr. George Craig said that on September 30 Sydney George Pryor was brought to his private hospital. He was alive, but unconscious. The usual attempts at restoration failed and he died about a quarter of an hour after admission. The cause of death was shock, but even if he had recovered from shock, he would have died of injuries to his scalp. There were no indications that the lorry had passed over his body. Stanley Rutland gave evidence that he was standing in Anderson Street on September 30, and saw the youth pass on his bicycle, travelling quite slowly. A moment later witness heard a crash, and saw deceased on the ground and the lorry had passed over him. The lorry pulled up some distance from where the boy was lying. Pryor spoke to witness as lie was passing and turned his head in the opposite direction to that in which he was riding.

Motor Driver’s Evidence. Conrad Henry Lewis, motor driver, said he had been driving motors for two years. On September 30 he was driving a motor lorry down Studholm Street. It was daylight. The brakes were all right. At the intersection of Anderson Street he sounded his horn. He looked to the right and then straight ahead, when a boy on a cycle came from the left nearly on the lorry. He had no time to pull up. He -was travelling at between 20 and 25 miles per hour. The truck struck the cycle broadside on. 11c put his foot-brake on. The cycle was pushed along in front of the lorry. He could not say how far the boy was carried before he was thrown clear. He travelled about two chains after he hit the boy before he pulled up. His fool-brake was quite efficient. When going at 20 miles an hour lie could pull up in one and a-hall' chains. When he first saw the boy he appeared to be hesitating. Evidence was given by several people who were in the vicinity of the accident. Eric Petry, motor mechanic, said he had carried out a test of the brakes of the lorry. The footbrake was not quite as safe as it should be, but the hand-brake was quite effective and in good order. The jury returned a verdict that Sydney George Pryor met his death accidentally by being struck by a motor lorry whilst deceased was riding a bicycle. Although it was shown by the evidence that the foot-brake was defective, the jury was of the opinion that had it been in perfect order the accident would not have been averted. The jury added a rider that the Morrinsvillc Borough Council’s attention he drawn to the necessity of placing a dome at the intersection for the purpose of slowing down the traffic and thus making the intersection safer.