TRAFFIC OFFENCES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 58, 4 December 1946, Page 5

TRAFFIC OFFENCES

MAGISTRATE’S COURT LIST

DEPARTMENT PROSECUTIONS Before Mr E. L. Walton, S.M. in the Whakatane Magistrate’s Court last Tuesday, the usual list of traffic offenders was dealt with. Prosecutions were brought by the Traffic Department (Inspector Sharpe). For operating at Matata, a taxi not equipped with a sufficiently effective handbrake, Rugby Augustine Howell (Mr Barry), was fined £1 with costs (27/-). Inspector Sharpe described how he had tested the brakes and discovered the handbrake not sufficiently efficient. The Vehicle Inspector had been present, and under the circumstances the certificate of fitness for the vehicle had had to be lifted.

Mr Barry explained that the car was now in good condition. At the time of the Inspector’s test, it had only just come from the garage, and one of the brake rods had not been properly adjusted. Another charge concerning the non-effectiveness of a handbrake was preferred against Andrew Davidson Hardy, who was stopped by the Inspector whilst operating a motor lorry in Commerce Street. On being tested, it was found that from 20 m.p.h., instead of pulling the vehicle up in 70ft., the handbrake failed to stop it under 300 ft. Further inspection revealed that the cable was not even connected, to the brake. A fine of £3 with costs (10/-) was inflicted.

The novel idea of carrying passengers on the mudguards of his car proved costly to Raymond Gordon Brown who was charged with having a motor vehicle so loaded as to cause injury to any person. The Inspector described how the car had been proceeding along the Strand with a person sitting on each mudguard waving their arms around. A fine of £1 and costs (12/-) was inflicted.

For operating a goods service in a controlled area in contravention to his goods service license, Jack Moulden (Mr Barry) was fined £1 and costs (12/-). Inspector Sharpe described how he had stopped the vehicle loaded with a quantity of timber from Tunnicliffe’s Mill. This mill was in the Rotorua County, and defendant’s license extended only to the Whakatane County boundary. Mr Barry explained that on the occasion referred to, defendant had been assisting another carrier who was licensed to carry timber from Tunnicliffe’s Mill. Defendant’s 'license had now been extended in order that he could cart from the mill.