Until the 1940s local roads were relatively traffic free, and ordinary working class people didn’t own their own cars. Children played in the streets without fear of being knocked down, and road accidents were rare. But by the time of the 1950s, more people were able to afford their own cars, and there were more heavy lorries on the roads. Suddenly, roads and streets were no longer safe places to be, and road accidents became fairly regular occurrences . Photographs of car crashes with vehicles running into walls were front page news, and pictured are just a few of the graphic photographs taken by our photographers 50 years ago.
Lorry driver jumped to safety
THE driver of this runaway lorry managed to jump clear before it crashed into this grocery shop in Leeds Road, Dewsbury.
Our report from the time said that quick-thinking probably saved the life of the driver, who was from Newcastle, when he jumped clear of his runaway lorry seconds before it ploughed into the shop. The driver, 27-year-old Thomas Coates, escaped with a twisted knee, just as dawn was breaking.
Residents of the block of houses and small shops below St Philip’s Church rushed from their beds after being awakened by a tremendous crash. The runaway eight-wheeler, carrying 14 tons of bacon, ran through a tubular handrail, scraped a lamp standard, and came smashing into the side of the small shop owned by Mr D Varney. The shop was completely demolished and the crash cracked open the wall like matchwood. Bottles of sweets, chocolates, tins of provisions, debris and broken glass littered the pavement .
Debris from the impact pushed aside a counter, and the cabin of the large transport lorry was completely destroyed. The mudguards were ripped off, but luckily the petrol tank did not explode.
Head first into the beck
THIS runaway car, which belonged to a Dewsbury man, ended up in the Beck at Batley but fortunately no-one was hurt.
It happened in February 1956, and the car, believe it or not, was only slightly damaged. Today it would have been a write-off. The car belonged to Mr John McGowan, of The Vicarage, Dewsbury Moor, and it plunged into Batley Beck at Shay Farm, Carlinghow, early one Sunday morning.
The car had been parked on land adjacent to the Beck, and when Mr McGowan returned to take friends home, he had difficulty starting it.
He decided to push it back on to the path crossing the Beck in an attempt to start it on the downward slope. As it was being pushed back, the car, of its own volition, ran forward, and although Mr McGowan managed to apply the brakes, the car skidded on the greasy, thawed-out ground and plunged down into the position shown here.
Extricating the vehicle proved a difficult job and took almost three hours. Mechanics lifted the front end, with the aid of planks and ran the car over the Beck and up the other side.
