CROSSING ACCIDENT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 27, 26 October 1937, Page 4

CROSSING ACCIDENT

Woman Driver Fined in Hastings Court "A LAPSE," SAYS MAGISTRATE The eequel to an accident between a train and a motor-car at the Eastbourne street railway crossing, in which a woman passenger was seriously injured, was heard in the Hastings Magistrate's Court this morning when Bessie Y. Howie, a schoolteacher at Central School4 Hastings, was charged with attempting to eross the railway line when it was not clear. A plea of guilty was entered by Mr W. E. Bate who asked for a light penalty as the defendant's car had been damaged to the extent of £81 and she would have to compensate iier passenger who was injured, as this was not covered by third-party . risk. "The fines are not the deterring factor in theee cases," said Mr Bate. "If the danger of hitting a train cannot impress upon people not to do these tliings, then fines certainly will not." The Magistrate said he would take into account the special circumstances and imposed a fine of £1 with costs 10/-. Outlining the case, Semor-Sergeaut G. Sivyer explained that the defendant had run into the side of a train, damaging her car extensively and injuring a passenger. She could give no explanation, but said that she was so used to crossing the line and had never met a train that she never thought Of meeting one. "Defendant is a young seliool teachor at Central Seliool," said Mr Bate, "and, working alongside the railway line^ she consequently hears train whistles continually so that they do not make the impression upon her that they would on others. No doubt at the timo her vision was blurred by rain and she looked up at the town clock as she approached the rails." "This is a case where there is apparently no excuse," said Mr Miller. It was just a lapse on the part of an •otherwise careful driver. In view of the heavy expenses she would have to me8t, however, he would make the fine a light one.