Reversing Car Puzzled Oncomers

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30955, 11 January 1966, Page 1

Reversing Car Puzzled Oncomers

“I could not believe my eyes,” said the Automobile Association’s Ashburton patrol officer (Mr A. -J. Langston), describing yesterday how the driver of a small Continental car repeatedly reversed it into oni coming traffic on the north approach to the Rakaia bridge on Mon- ' day of last week. ' “I was returning to Ashbur ton and going on to the bridg< about 5.50 p.m.,” said M: i Langston. “A group of vehicle; was approaching when I sav this small car reverse into th< jline of traffic.

“The car went forward, then; reversed again and again, at); different angles. The car had h started to circle the roadway ji by the time I pulled up and ; walked over. Traffic was all; 1 mixed up, and how no-one hit ’ the small car 1 don’t know, i “Inside the car were two girls, aged about 17 or 18. ill asked them what they thought J they were doing, and apart'; from one of them saying that'i they had changed drivers, there was no explanation. 1 ; cautioned them, and told them 1 to drive straight home.” , The association’s chief ser-‘< ■'Vice officer (Mr B. A. Ander- ’ iison) said that the holiday sea- 1 .! son had been comparatively i' ! quiet for patrol officers. Three ■ ’ cars had capsized on the Lewis 1 ' Pass, and the association’s man ■ had helped to straighten I things out.

“An American station wag-' gon towing a boat on a trailer, . went over a 20ft bank south , of Reefton. It took two hours' and a half to get them out. No-one was injured, and there | was no damage,” said Mr An-; derson. Though traffic had been very heavy south of the Fox glacier,! Mr Anderson said there did not appear to have been any major troubles or breakdowns. The association’s Christchurch office has been exceptionally busy since before Christmas. The general man- : ager (Mr E. S. Palliser) said that in the fortnight before Christmas. 490 new members were enrolled, and another 287 in the short week between Christmas and New Year. There had been a phenomenal demand for information about tours, especially

| for the Haa-st Pass and Nelson, said Mr Palliser. The association was warning per- ' sons not to try the Haast run without making advance | accommodation arrangements, I but it was evident that many I were prepared to rough it. One woman, he said, had I made the trip twice, and on her last one had driven from Queenstown to Greymouth, more than 300 miles, before getting accommodation In December, Mr Palliser said, the patrol cars covered 21,086 miles, helping 217 members and putting up 226 signs. Car shipments to the North Island fell sharply, probably [as a result of the Maori's drive-on service. In the pre-Christmas rush, he said, the association checked 282 cars, mostly used, which members wanted to buy.