DANGEROUS DRIVING

Evening Post, Issue 28, 1 August 1936, Page 15

DANGEROUS DRIVING

WOMAN KNOGKED vl:;:":;,;;;'ROWN-w: ~-;■;:

UPPER HUTT ACCIDENT

An; early. morning: accident: was described in'the UpperjHutt Court1 yesterday, before Mr,;H^:P; LaycryC-S^ \vhen Middleton Hbbbs , was:; charged ■vfitii : driving'in a/manner .dangerous to the public, having old number, plates 6n- his^.-'car;, arid haying;: no "driver's licence. ; ;; •.....■:;.'". V'^'l' -■•'.''''■ '■'■•"" .'■.■'

..Constable C. Joss .conducted, V' the case for;; the i police, : and Mr. r J.. t. Mac Duff appeared' for. Hoibbs, who pleaded; not guilty to .'the''charge .of dangerous'"drivihg: and;.guilty, to the other two-charges, ■'■'•'-.■■ ■'■'}/.-■, ':'■!?. - ri' ■ Richard Charles Arthur Reilly;; said j that at: the time ■of the accident ■he i was driving ,a van frbin .'Upper Hutt ■and was lppking: out fpr.hiSirWife,: who had ijpeen "tq.a dance. The." conditions were .exceedingly badl Wheh'opposite .^hakitiki,§treet>he;saw. his Wife',w'alkirig on the footpath, rHe pulled''up -a , little1 distance in; frontiofiher, the: van : .being:-.; half, on :and .half: off .the. bitu;nien. He.did not see any car in front !of him nor "any? behind- fiim. -A car vcame;Yu'p : ;on;tfiis. iwrfSng1-k'side* ;■'■..and ■knocked hi§: iyife down, as she!: .was crbs^ihg'llje;Vfoaa: towards'?:him." She was able to eta wj but, .but.later/had to be taken to^ hps,pital,;. whereshe re-'. ;mained for iyrp weeks,' ghe^was still attendirigv,thS':\hdspitil'-':fhreevd^y's;''a-week. ;He did .not See .the -lights .of the other car. :■■ "''■'-'..' ■ ■■■'V : ; -.- "■:'■'.■

Mrs Reilly said that she did. not see sthe lights tof the car that knocked her down She suffered a broken collarbone, and was badly cut about the leg Constable Joss stated that on June 29 he interviewed the defendant at Akatarawa and examined his car, which \Vas an old model The old number plates were still on the car, and the defendant did not have a driver's licence The defendant explained that he had bought his new number plates the day before the accident, but' had: not fixed' them ■: to the car On the night of the accident, according to the defendant's statement, he was following a van The night was dark and rain was falling His speed was about ten miles an hour, and he was about five yards behind the other vehicle when it pulled up suddenly He swerved to the left to avoid hitting the van, applying his brakes at the same time The accident then occuried His car was well ■lighted Mr Mac Duff said tho defendant had 'not renewed his licence because he had not intended to use his car, and 'for the same reason he had "not renewed the registration He helped some neighbours out with the use of his car, so decided to get it registered On the night of the accident a Mr Mclntyre wanted ( to get to Wellington urgently, so he undeitook to take him in He had already left .home when he remembered new | number plates, and returned for them, placing them on the back of the car I The lights of the car were run from the generator, and if. the oar went slowly the result was seen in -the lights The lights were extinguished when the car stopped The defendant was forced to swing to the left when the van in front stopped suddenly He submitted,' that Reilly should not have stopped m the middle of the road Lights were approaching from Wellington so the defendant could not have passed on t the other sid^e Mrs. Reilly must hav,e walked over* at^an ''jjpgle, because neither Hobbs nor his passenger sajv her ' , Hobbs, an evidence, ' said he sa\v lights, coming, towards him from Wei- i lington, but he could not say whether I they were t£e lights of a car or ,not. | Ho did not notice the vehicle pass them - I Aubrey Campbell Mclntyre, a Pub-1 lie Works Department foreman, said that he was a passenger in Hobbs's car at the time of the accident He had to get *to Wellington urgently He did not see Mrs. Reilly. He noticed the headlights of a car approaching two or three chains away, but it did not pass them It could have turned down a side street Thei» Was a space of twenty or thirty feet between the cars Hobbs was travelling at between 15 and 20. miles per hour. The Magistrate said that he would have to convict the defendant The mam cause of the accident was that Hobbs was travelling with insufficient lights If the defendant was 20 or 30 feet behind the other car and travelling at ten miles an hour he should have been 'able to pull up The weather was extremely bad, but that was good reason for extra care being taken On account of the defendant's circumstances, he was fined £2 on the dangerous driving charge and 10s on each of the other charges