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TOODYAY TRAGEDY.
CORONER'S FINDING.
Charabanc Driver Negligent.
TOODYAY, Aug, 25. — The inquiry into
the death of five school children who were
in a charabanc going to the Toodyay State
School when it was struck by a train at
the Clintoh^street level crossing, Toodyay,
on August 6, was concluded to-day. The
Coroner (Mr. F. M. Read) returned a ver-
dict that the children died as a result of
a train striking the motor vehicle in which
they were travelling, the occurence being
caused by negligence on the part of Oliver
George Page, driver of the. charabanc. He
absolved the engine driver, Lionel Leslie
Herrod, from all blame. The Coroner took
the view that the negligence was not
criminal negligence.
The children who were killed were Laurie
Cook (13), Alan Fawell (6), Norman
Waters (8), Ewen Macintosh (13), and
John Lee (14). The Assistant Crown Soli-
citor (Mr. A. A. Wolff) appeared for the
Railway Department and the Minister for.
Education; Mr. S. Howard Bath for Oliver
G. Page,driver of the charabanc; Mr. H.
P. D: Lyon, for the relatives of all the dead
children, and Mr. W. Rudinger (secretary
'of the: Engine Drivers' and Firemen's
Union) for Lionel L. Herrod, driver of
the train concerned.
Shop Assistant's Premonition.
Ida May Smith, shop assistant, residing
at the corner of Stirling-terrace and Clif-
ton-street, said she was in the shop where
she worked on the morning of the acci-
dent. She heard a train whistle at the
Duke-street crossing, and at the same time
heard the horn of the school charabanc
sounded at the Clinton-street turn. Some-
thing seemed to tell her that the bus and
train would arrive at the crossing practi-
cally at the same time, and she walked
towards the corner of the street. She saw
the charabanc turn the corner, travelling
at about 12 or 15 miles an hour. A second
later she looked up Clinton-street and saw
the train within a yard of the charabanc.
It appeared to be' going slowly.
To Mr. Wolff: She could see the crossing
plainly.
:Frederick Henry Green, mail contractor,
and member of the Toodyay Road Board,
deposed that he heard a loud but not long
whistle coming from a train on the Duke-
street crossing. The fog was rising, and he
could see the train distinctly, but he did
not notice any steam coming from the en-
gine. He saw the charabanc round the
corner into Clinton-street travelling at
about 12 miles an hour. As the charabanc
rounded the corner the engine was about
50 yards west of Duke-street. Witness saw
that if one of the vehicles did not stop
there would be a crash, so he watched
carefully. The train was travelling at
about 8 or 10 miles an hour. The next
thing he noticed was the front of the
charabanc crossing the rails. The engine
struck the bus and carried it along. The
crossing was a very bad one for any vehicle
travelling. south. He had been in Toodyay
for 70 years, and had not known an acci-
dent on it before, but this did not alter
the fact that the crossing was dangerous,
and considerable care should be taken.
'To Mr. Wolff: When the engine was on
the east: cattle pit the bus would be about
seven or eight yards back from the rails.
To 'Mr. Bath : Page was a; very careful
driver.
Charabanc's Brakes In Order.
Constable Richardson, of the Police
Traffic Department, said that on August
10 he examined the charabanc. It had two-
wheel brakes acting on the rear wheels.
His test revealed that the brake rods were
in good order, and an application of both
foot and hand brakes independently show-.
ed tjat tje pff=sode wjee; cpi;d mpt be
moved, meanint that the brakes on this
wheel were perfect. The near-side wheel
could be shifted slightly, showing that the
brake on this wheel was only fair. The
brake test as a whole showed the brakes
to be good. When interviewing some of
the parents of .the children concerned, wit-
ness was impressed by the high regard
they had for the driver of the charabanc.
To Mr. Wolff : At:a speed of from 10
to 15 miles an hour it would take about
22 feet to stop the charabanc. A clear
view of the line could not be obtained
more than 20 feet from the line, so a
driver would have to travel slower if he
were to pull up in time. It was obvious,
therefore, that 10 or 15 miles an hour was
not a prudent speed to negotiate this cross-
ing. With the number of children in the
front seat, as stated by witnesses, the
?^river-wouldV not'^hadriver would not have too much room to
act in an emergency.
To Mr. Lyons: If witness had been driv-
ing a charabanc filled with children up
Clinton-street he would have changed gears.
This would have been the precaution he
would have taken for safe driving. The
charabanc concerned should have been able
;to stop in Clinton-street in about 20 feet.
Graden Joseph Bates, fireman on the
train concerned in the smash, said that the
train 'left Toodyay station at 8.35 a.m.
Vision was clear for about 100. yards ahead,
and approaching the Duke-street crossing
the driver blew the whistle, and shortly
after, owing, to a butcher's cart on the
crossing, applied the brakes. After going
over the crossing the driver took the brakes
of and about half-way between Duke-
street and Clinton-street he sounded the
whistled again. Witness could see the
Clinton-street crossing about 80 yards away
clearly when the driver whistled.The train
was going about: nine miles an hour. The
next he remembered was the driver sud-
denly applying the brakes and giving the
whistle a short blast. Witness saw the
bonnet of a car on the line, and it ap-
peared to rise in the air and swing across
in front of the engine. It was then pushed
along in front of the engine. Witness did
not notice any steam about the engine,
and could not say definitely whether the
engine skidded or not.
To Mr. Bath: The fog would have made
the rails greasy.
Restricted View of Crossing.
Lionel Leslie Herrod, engine driver, sta-
tioned at Toodyay, for the past five weeks,
said he had. been a first-class engine driver
for seyen and a half years and had been
27 years in the department. He drove
the.engine concerned in the smash. The
train was a special goods train composed
of empty trucks. It left Toodyay five
minutes late. The fog was clearing and
he could see distinctly for 130 yards. When
approaching the Duke-street crossing he
applied the brakes, owing to a butcher's
cart, near the crossing. At this time he
was doing eight miles an hour and he
reduced the speed of the train to prac-
tically walking pace. After the cart had
passed he started to release the brakes
which took more time than usual because
he had very powerful brakes. In the
Engine yard the gauged had shown 23
inches of vacuum. He applied half of
this to reduce the speed, leaving only
about 12 inches. Consequently it took
some little time to release this amount
of brake. After the release of the brakes
the momentum was increased to about
eight miles an hour. It was his usual
custom to sound the whistle half-way be-
tween the two crossings and he did this
on this morning. The whistle was a
powerful one and he sounded it for the
time it would take to count five or six.
He had an uninterrupted view of Clinton
street crossing. The engine had no vapour
rising from it and should have been clear-
ly visible. He could see Clinton-street
from Duke-street and considered that
anyone in Clinton-street could have seen
the engine at Duke-street. Owing to the
incident at Duke-street he was keeping
a: sharp look-out at Clinton-street. On
account of the buildings on the corner
the engine driver's view, of the street
was restricted. When the front of the
engine was about five yards from the
cattle pit east of the crossing witness saw
a charabanc emerge into view from be-
hind a brick wall. It was close to the
line and seemed to be travelling at about
15 miles an hour. He could see it quite
distinctly and applied full pressure to the
brakes, and attempted to open the sand
gear. There was a momentary lessening
of. speed, then the wheels skidded. The
charabanc was then right across the line
and witness lost sight of it in front of
the engine. He felt the engine strike the
bus and continue on with the wheels
locked, and it went for eight truck-lengths
over the crossing. The rails were very
greasy on account of the fog.
To Mr. Wolff: The weight of the engine
and train was 196 tons.
To Mr. Bath: In his opinion the accident
was inevitable under the circumstances
existing at the time.
Bus Driver's Version.
Oliver George Page, motor mechanic,
employed by K. Somers, of Toodyay, said
he was the driver of the charabanc which
was carrying children from Culham, De-
war's Pool and Coondle on August 6.
He had driven this charabanc many times
and he knew the restricted view of the
line at the Clinton-street crossing. There
were 34 children on. the charabanc when
it came into Toodyay, there being three
on his right-hand side, one being nursed.
and five of the smallest children on his
left side. The curtains on either side of
the windscreen were fixtures. Each had
pic windows. Approaching Toodyay the
bus ran into a fog. The children stop-
ped singing before entering Clinton-street.
Before turning into Clinton-street he
sounded the horn and was going at 12 or
15 miles an hour. When.:nearing the
crossing he looked both ways as soon
as he could see past the brick wall, and
could see nothing. His speed then would
be about 10 miles, moving in top gear.
He never saw the engine, but felt an
impact.
Inspector Crow: You knew it was a
dangerous crossing and realised that a
driver of a charabanc filled with children
should take great care? What did you
do to take precautions?
Witness: I knew the brakes were good.
I never expected a train to be there.
How often 'have you been over the
crossing on school days?— Twice daily dur-
ing the past four months.
To Mr Wolff: At the speed he was
going at the crossing he could have pulled
up in 20 feet. When he was about 30
feet from the line he looked to the left
and could not see a train.
Mr. Wolff: Yet you continued on, even
when you could not see anything?
To Mr. Bath witness said it was un-
necessary to change gears because the
charabanc was sufficiently powerful to
climb the hill without so doing. He heard
no train whistle and he sounded his horn
near .the crossing. The children did not
obstruct his view at all.
"Negligence Not Criminal."
In delivering his verdict, the Coroner
quoted two authorities on manslaughter.
Dealing with the engine driver Herrod
he said that he was blameless. The speed
of the train was reasonable, and he had
signalled his approach to the crossing and
applied the brakes promptly. Page's duty
was to proceed with all caution. He had
not driven in any dangerous way up to
the. time of the accident. Reference had
been made to a fog, and any fog or build-
ing which might have restricted the view
placed the greater onus on the driver to
be more careful. From the evidence - he
was certain that a more careful look-out
would have disclosed the engine to Page.
Page knew the dangerous nature of the
crossing. The railway evidence showed
that for three months prior to the accident
special trains had been run at all hours,
so that a train on the crossing might have
been expected at any time. All these
facts imposed a greater responsibility on
Page to take greater precaution. It ap-
peared that the fact that he had travelled
over the crossing many times and had
never before seen a train had lulled Page
into a false sense of security, and he
merely glanced to the left and right; He
could come to no other conclusion but
that the accident was due to negligence,
but looking at the evidence and having
regard for the authorities which he had
quoted, he was of opinion not to criminal
negligence.
The Cotoner added that he intended re-
commending to the Government that a
regulation be framed under the Traffic
Act compelling all vehicles to become sta-
tionary before going over a level crossing.
Crossings which allowed a full view of
the line on each side could be exempt
from the regulation. He was of the
opinion that it was a mistake to allow
more than one person to sit on the driver's
right in a charabanc, where the space was
less than two feet, and he would recom-
mend also that school charabancs be
compelled to stop before crossing lines.
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