“TAKING A RISK”
MOTORISTS WHO TRY TO BEAT THE TRAM A plea of not guilty of driving bis motor-car in Adelaide Road in a dangerous manlier was entered by William Frank Bucknell, a taxi-driver, in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday afternoon.
Evidence for the prosecution went to show that defendant had tried to pass a trauicar in Adelaide Road recently prior to the tram stopping, so that lie could get ahead and avoid delay. In doing so, it was slated, Bucknell had knocked a boy off a bicycle in front of him.
Bucknell admitted that lie had tried to pass tlie tram, but stated 'that it would have been quite all right if one of three cyclists who were in front had not swerved out in front of the car and fallen olf his machine. Witness was not speeding at the time, and he only wanted to get in front of the traincar, so that lie .would be ahead of it when it pulled up at its stopping place. “Nearly every motorist tries to beat a tram to its stop,” he added. Senior-Sergeant Scott: Yes, that’s just it- You tried to pass the car, just like a lot of other motorists do. They see a tram about to reach a stopping place, so they immediately put on speed to get ahead. They do as you did; that is, take a risk. Is it not better, for the safety of the public, and for tlie protection of life and limb, to pull up, instead of trying to beat a tram to its stop? 1 see it done daily, and the sooner Wellington motorists realise that they are taking a risk, and their action is fraught with danger, tlie sooner less accidents will occur. Defendant: If it hadn’t, of been for the boy on the bicycle swinging out it would have been quite all right. Senior-Sergeant Scott: Surely a cyclist has as much right to a little of the road as a motorist seems to want to the whole of it.
'Hie Alagistrate (Mr. J, H. Salmon, S.AI.) said that he thought Bucknell bad done what a lot of motorists were in Hie habit of doing—taking a risk in trying to pass a tram it stopped. Defendant would be lined £3, und costs.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19280215.2.17
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Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 117, 15 February 1928, Page 5
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380“TAKING A RISK” Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 117, 15 February 1928, Page 5
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