HILL DRIVING

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21417, 8 March 1935, Page 18

HILL DRIVING

SIGNPOSTS CRITICISED COMMENT BY MAGISTRATE iTRE.-iS ASMJI. IATI'JN IFt.r.I.HA-Vl.l j BLENHEIM. March 7. j The Automobile Association's sign- J posts on hill roads inviting downhill [ traffic to give way to uphill traffic as j a matter of road courtesy came under i lire in the Blenheim Magistrate's Court . in the hearing of a motor-car collision j case. ! The Christchurch mo!oris! who was involved in the accident said it was a rule of the road in Marlborough and Nelson that all downhill traffic should give way to uphill. "Where did you get that bogey from?" demanded the police prosecutor. Witness: There arc signs to that effect on hill roads. "I have seen them, too." interposed the magistrate, Mr T. E. Maunsell. "Such notices have no right to be in existence. How on earth people see fit to make laws of that nature—that arc not the law of the land—l don't know. "There is no legal justification for such notices. They ought all to be pulled down," he added. Christchurch motorists who were asked for comment on this message last evening agreed wholeheartedly with the magistrate's comment. Thenviews were summed up by Mr J. S. Hawkes, secretary to the Automobile Association, Canterbury (Inc.). He said determination about giving way depended entirely on the contour and conditions of the road. A motorist going uphill on the inside of the road should give way if there was danger, and a motorist going downhill should give way if he had the inside of the road. It was absolutely foolish to have a hard and fast rule.There was no rule in Canterbury, but Nelson and Marlbrough had always been keen on the rule. DOCTOR FINED £154 DANGEROUS DRIVING WHEN DRUNK Dr. William Graham, aged 33, of Manor road, Tynemouth, England, was fined £154 at Newcastle and disqualified for life from holding a driving license. He pleaded guilty to five allegations. These, and the fines inflicted, were:— Being under the influence of drink to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of a motorcar in Grey street, Newcastle —£50. Driving in a dangerous manner at the same time —£50. Driving in a dangerous manner in Pilgrim street, Newcastle —£50. Failing to stop after an accident —£2. Failing to conform to a traffic signal £2. He was also ordered to pay £ls lis 6d costs. It was stated for the prosecution that Graham's car ran into the rear of a stationary car, turned into a main street, against a traffic signal, and collided with another stationary car. Mr F. J. Lambert (defending) said that Graham was ill and had tinly two drinks that night. Graham, it was reported, was fined £IOO at Northumberland Assizes in November, 1933, on a charge of manslaughter, an indictment for driving in a dangerous manner being left on the file.