ACCIDENTS
FATAL COLLISION ON KILMOG HILL
CAR STRIKES MOTOR-LORRY
(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) DUNEDIN, July 31.
A fatal collision occurred on the Kilmog hill shortly after 2 p.m. today, when a five-seater motor-car driven by George Gloag, a labourer, of Omarama, collided with a motor lorry going in the opposite direction, and was hurled against the bank on the inside of the road, the driver of the car being killed instantaneously.
Gloag, who was a single man, 23 years of age, was travelling to Dunedin with two companions. Apparently he applied his brakes when he saw the lorry approaching; but the slippery surface of the road caused the car to skid into the oncoming vehicle, with the result that all three occupants were thrown out of the car, the driver receiving the full force of the impact.
The passengers escaped uninjured.
An inquest will be held to-morrow morning. -Press, 1/8/1936.
ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES
KILMOG FATALITY INQUEST ON VICTIM
An inquest on the body of George Gloag, the victim of the fatal motor collision which occurred on Kilmog Hill on Friday afternoon, was opened on Saturday morning at the Morgue, Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., sitting as coroner. Senior Sergeant Packer and Sergeant Boulton represented the police.
Evidence of identification was given by David Wilson Stalker, who stated that the deceased, who was 23 years of age, resided at Omarama.
Leslie William Joseph Kitto, a rabbiter, residing at Omarama, said that at 3.40 on Friday morning he left Omarama in a car driven by James Gloag, a brother of the deceased, the witness Stalker being the other passenger. At Oamaru they changed into another car, driven by the deceased, and travelled on towards Dunedin. They arrived at the Kilmog Hill a few minutes after 2 p.m., and at that time it was snowing. The car was a Dodge three-seater tourer. The speed up the hill was about 30 to 35 miles an hour, and, on account of the snow, the deceased was using one hand to operate the windscreen-wiper. As they reached a bend where the accident occurred they were going downhill, the deceased being on his correct side of the road. Witness’s vision was obscured by snow on the windscreen, but apparently the deceased noticed a lorry coming in the opposite direction, as he applied the brakes, with the result that the car skidded and struck the lorry. The car travelled on and went into the ditch at the side of the road, witness, the deceased and the other passenger being thrown out of the car. The lorry was on its correct side of the road and in witness’s opinion the accident occurred through the car skidding after the brakes had been applied. He would not say that any blame was attachable to the lorry driver.
William James Gloag, a brother of the deceased, said that he drove the car from Omarama to Oamaru, where the deceased took over from him. Two bottles of whisky and two bottles of beer were purchased at Georgetown. The deceased had had two drinks some time before he left Omarama, but he was quite sober at Oamaru. Witness corroborated the evidence of the previous witness as to the collision with the lorry, and at this stage the inquest was adjourned until Thursday. -Otago Daily Times, 3/8/1936.
FATAL COLLISION
GAR SKIDS ON GREASY ROAD
LORRY DRIVER FULLY EXONERATED
The inquest into the death of George Gloag, a labourer, of Omarama, who was fatally injured when his car skidded on the slippery road surface of the Kilmog and crashed into a lorry on Friday afternoon last, was concluded this morning. A verdict of accidental death was returned.
Mr E. J. Anderson represented the lorry driver.
Ernest James Richard Little, the driver of the lorry, said that he was on his way to Oamaru when the accident happened. When he was driving over the top of the Kilmog and was still on a slight upgrade he saw a car approaching. Visibility at the time was very good, considering the state of the weather. He could not estimate the speed of the car, as it went into a skid almost as soon as he saw it. Witness swung out as far as ho possibly could, but did not apply his brakes on account of the condition of the road, which was covered with snow and ice. He considered it unsafe to brake. When he saw that an accident was inevitable he applied, his brakes. The car swung round and skidded right across the front of the lorry. The driver's side of the car came into collision with the right front wheel of the lorry. The car then careered off the lorry and came to rest against the bank. The deceased was hanging out of the car, the door being torn off. One of the passengers was still in the car and the other was standing on the roadside. The deceased was still alive when witness went over to him, but died before a lorry came to take him to Evansdale. Witness attributed the accident to the skidding of the car on a greasy road surface.
To Mr Anderson, witness said that he had just changed into top gear before the accident. His speed would be under 20 miles an hour. If the lorry had not been there to block the skidding car it would have gone right off the road and down the bank. The engine of the lorry had received such a blow that it was practically useless.
Dr Evans described the injuries sustained by the deceased. In his opinion the cause of death was shock following fractures of the base of the skull and the right arm.
The coroner (Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M.) said that the deceased was driving in to Dunedin with two passengers three-seater car when this unfortunate accident occurred. The evidence showed that the car was travelling in the vicinity of 35 miles an hour over the Kilmog, and that the deceased was driving with one hand and using the other to keep the windscreen wiper going. His Worship remarked that he would make no comment upon these facts, other than to say that he thoroughly agreed with the statements of the passengers in the car that no possible blame could be attached to the driver of the lorry. He would return a verdict that the deceased died from injuries caused by the accidental collision of his car with the lorry. -Evening Star, 6/8/1936.
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