Bourne crash driver 'on wrong side'

By MONIQUE DEVEREUX

Michael Barltrop was driving on the wrong side of the road for almost 200m before his Jeep and Possum Bourne's rally car collided, according to the only other surviving witness to the accident.

Chris Ruane's account of the April 18 crash was handed up with 23 other statements at a depositions hearing yesterday at the Queenstown District Court. Barltrop is charged with driving in a manner that was "dangerous to the public and thereby caused the death of Possum Bourne".

Internationally renowned rally car driver Bourne, 47, suffered serious head injuries in the crash at Cardrona, the valley between Wanaka and Queenstown, while preparing for the Race to the Sky event. He died in hospital on April 30.

Mr Ruane was not in court yesterday but is the key witness to what happened on the dusty Waiorau Snow Farm Rd on Good Friday.

The 39-year-old electrician had been involved in the annual race before and was again this year organising the power supply for the event. Two weeks before the race he was invited to co-drive for Barltrop, whom he had known for several years through a mutual friend. Barltrop's official entry form stated that his fiancee, Rebecca Greer, would be the co-driver.

Mr Ruane had no rally experience but he knew the road well through working at the Snow Farm on car commercials over the past six years.

With Barltrop driving, the pair joined a pre-race reconnaissance to check the route and go over the draft pace notes provided to all competitors by organisers. The "recce" involved one trip up and one trip down the road.

At a briefing beforehand, organisers told the drivers that the usual road rules applied and that there would be two-way traffic. Drivers competing in other levels of the event would also be on the road checking the course.

In his statement, Mr Ruane said their Cherokee Jeep was heading downhill on a straight towards a long, left-hand sweeping bend. Just before the bend - when travelling downhill - there is a crest followed by a dip.

"As we came to that brow [Barltrop] said that he wanted to be over to the right. This was so that he could negotiate the left sweeper further along the course," Mr Ruane said.

"We were on the middle-right side of the road. We weren't completely hard over to the right. [Barltrop] said he wanted to be in this position to take that next bend.

"This was the only time [Barltrop] deviated greatly from the left-hand side of the road and actually physically put his vehicle on a race line."

They travelled for 150, to 200m before seeing Mr Bourne's car heading towards them. Mr Ruane recalled looking up and seeing a black Subaru before them. Both vehicles braked and headed in the same direction.

Mr Ruane said the road was quite wide where the accident happened.

The Jeep hit the Subaru "on the nose" Mr Ruane said. He was the only one able to get out of the vehicle, and went to check on Mr Bourne. Mr Ruane got another driver, Andrew Hawkeswood, to hold Mr Bourne's head up and keep his airway open.

Mr Bourne was unconscious and bleeding, his head and shoulders hanging out of the window. Barltrop had suffered a broken leg.

Constable John Eames, part of the team that investigates crashes in the Otago area, said the tyre marks from Mr Bourne's car indicated he had started braking 4.5 seconds before impact. At that stage the line of sight for both drivers meant Mr Bourne - who was in the dip of the road - could see the top of the Jeep, but Barltrop could not see Mr Bourne.

Another crash specialist, Senior Constable Trevor Buchanan, said Barltrop would have had 7.6m of road "available" had he turned the other way.

Mr Buchanan said the crash was not caused by the weather, sunstrike or the dusty conditions. In taking evasive action, Mr Bourne's Subaru was "further off the roadway to his left than should have been required to avoid any opposing vehicle". He also said there was no evidence Barltrop had braked.

But another co-driver in the pre-race run said the road condition was excellent except in the crash area. Jeffery Hill, of Auckland, who was travelling just ahead of Barltrop, said it was particularly dusty there.

Other drivers who made deposition statements said they saw Mr Bourne on both their way up and down the mountain road during their test run. Those who passed him immediately before the crash estimated he was travelling at 60-80km/h.

Barltrop was to be married in May but the wedding is on hold. He has started back at work as an aerial installer after six months off, but is limited in what he can do.

He conceded there was a case to answer. The trial will be held next year in Dunedin.