DANGEROUS PRACTICE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 41, 12 November 1926, Page 8

DANGEROUS PRACTICE

DIMMING MOTOR HEADLIGHTS “SHOULD BE STOPPED,” SAYS MAGISTRATE Dominion Special. Auckland, November IL 1 The system of dimming headlights when approaching another vehicle travelling in the opposite direction which prevails at present was condemned by Mr. C. R. Orr-Walker, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court during the hearing of a charge of dangerous driving brought against Frederick' John Lee, who pleaded not guilty. A youth named Mark Muse said that about 7.30 p.m. on September 18 he was walking along the Great North Road when he was struck by the car and knocked dqwn. ( He sustained injuries, and was attended to by a doctor. Witness was walking with one foot on the footpath and the other on the concrete road,,owing to the muddy, state of the footpath. Constable Nicol saw defendant after the accident.. Lee denied that he had knocked anyone down while travelling along the Great North Road, adding that he surely would have known had he collided with anybody. Counsel for the defence (Mr. Moody) said' that Muse should have kept to the footpath. It seemed to counsel that when defendant dimmed his headlights as he was approaching another car he had shut out any view of a person on the roadside. If a motorist did not dim' his lights when approaching another car he was liable to receive a “blast” from the driver of the approaching vehicle, yet if he dimmed his lights he ran the risk of running over anyone who might be on the road. Mr. Orr-Walker: It would be better I think to receive a "blast.” lam satisfied that defendant’s car struck the youth, but I think that the question of dimming lights should, be settled. It is a dangerous practice, and it is quite impossible for a motorist who dims his lights to see anyone in front of him. It is time that the dimming of lights should be stopped, if not by'law, then by practice. lam not prepared to hold that defendant was driving in a dangerous manner. The case will be dismissed.