MOTOR-CYCLIST KILLED
HEAD-ON COLLISION IN HILL CLIMB
ANOTHER RIDER INJURED
(P.A.) TIMARU, Feb. 12.
A motor-cyclist was killed and another suffered extensive injuries, in a head-on collision during the South Canterbury Motor-cycle Club’s hillclimbing championships on the Taiko zig-zag near Timaru soon after 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Killed
Frederick Elliott Lavers, single, aged 25, a farmer, of Waimate.
Injured
James Arneil Stirling, single, aged 22, a plumber, of Timaru.
Stirling suffered a fractured jaw, a fractured collar-bone, a fractured knee and cuts, to the face and concussion. He was admitted to the Timaru Public Hospital at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday. His condition this evening was reported satisfactory.
Lavers suffered severe injuries and died a few minutes after the accident.
The collision occurred near a bend in the road on the hill-climbing course which is about seven-tenths of a mile. It is understood that when the accident occurred Lavers was coasting down the hill after a time trial, and Stirling was making a timed run up the hill under full power. It is understood that both the officials at the start and the finish of the course were in communication, and it was supposed that all competitors had returned to the starting point and that the course had been clear for a number of minutes before Stirling began his run.
An inquest into the death of Lavers was opened before the Coroner (Mr M. M. Enting) and adjourned after the evidence of identification had been given. -Ashburton Guardian, 13/2/1950.
MOTOR-CYCLIST DIES FROM INJURIES
COLLISION IN HILL-CLIMBING CONTEST
(P.A.) TIMARU, Feb. 14.
James Arneil Stirling, single, aged 22, a plumber, of Timaru, who was involved in a head-on collision with another motor-cyclist during the South Canterbury Motor-cycle Clubs hillclimbing championships at Timaru last, Saturday, died in the Timaru Hospital this morning.
The other rider, Frederick Elliott Lavers, was killed almost instantaneously.
Stirling was admitted to the Timaru Hospital at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday with a fractured jaw, a fractured collarbone, and a fractured knee, cuts to the face, and concussion. -Ashburton Guardian, 15/2/1950.
MOTOR-CYCLISTS’ DEATHS
HEAD-ON COLLISION IN HILL CLIMB
CORONER’S COMMENTS
From Our Own Reporter TIMARU, March 27.
"This unfortunate accident apparently took place as a result of an official or officials failing in their duty to see that the road was clear when a rider was making a run,” said Sergeant C. J. R. Bisset, representing the police, at an inquest into the death of two motor-cyclists, Frederick Elliott Lavers, aged 22, of Waimate, and James Arneil Sterling, aged 25, of Timaru, at Timaru on February 11, before the Coroner (Mr M. M. Enting), at Timaru this morning.
The two motor-cyclists met in a head-on collision during the South Canterbury Motor-cycle Club hill climbing trials at the Taiko zig-zag, near Timaru, on February 11, 1950.
“I strongly urge the officials concerned to institute such further controls as may be necessary to render impossible a similar occurence,” said the Coroner.
Robert Alexander Davie described the collision in which Lavers was thrown high in the air and landed on his head on the road. Lavers was coasting down the hill with his engine running. He was not wearing a crash helmet. Stirling was coming up the hill under full power.
The official in charge of the trials, James Frederick Oed, said that after a failure in the timing system three riders had not been timed and were required to make their runs again. The riders were Lavers, Stirling, and E. Stewart. Before sending Stirling away on his second run he had been informed by officials that all the riders had returned to the bottom, said Oed. Officials at the start and finish were in touch by radio telephone and officials at the top had sent word that all riders had returned to the starting point. There was a space of five minutes from when word was received that all riders had returned to the bottom, of the hill and the time Stirling was sent away on his second run.
Sidney Lewis Howes said that Lavers had passed him coasting down the hill. “Had we been able to hear the loud-speakers we would have known there was another motor-cyclist coming up," he said.
Sergeant Bisset said the police department was very concerned about the deaths of the two young men, and no doubt the Court would see from the evidence that some steps should be taken on future occasions so that similar happenings would never occur again, said Sergeant Bisset.
The Coroner said the evidence disclosed that the motor-cycle trial was conducted in accordance with the usual practice, but that it was obvious that there was a need for a tightening up of the rules governing such events. Stirling had been sent away on his trial before Lavers had returned to the starting point. It apparently had been assumed that Lavers had returned. Both riders had a right to expect a clear road.
In conformity with medical evidence the Coroner found that Frederick Elliott Lavers died from shock following multiple injuries sustained when the motor-cycle he was riding came into collision with a motor-cycle ridden by James Arneil Stirling on the Taiko zig-zag on February 11, 1950.
He also found that James Arneil Stirling died at Timaru on Tuesday, February 14, 1950, as a result of cerebral laceration accompanied by multiple injuries.
Mr R. S. Frapwell appeared for the South Canterbury Motor-Cycle Club. -Press, 28/3/1950.
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