TWO MOTORISTS FINED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 33, 2 November 1937, Page 6

TWO MOTORISTS FINED

1 ^ I Charges of Negligent Driving An accident early in October, when a motorist crashed into a power-pcle in Caroline road, Hastings, resulted in a charge of negligent driving being brought this morning against William Harrison in the Hastings Magistrate's Court. Defendant pleaded guilty by letter and was fined £7 by Mr. J. Miller, S.M. "This» man was driving home from a dance at 1 a.m. with passengers in hii car, when he swerved completely on to the wrong side of the road, his car mounting the footpath and snapping off a power pole," said Senior-Sergeant G. Sivyer. The vehicle then bounded off again and stopped on the opposite side of the road. Defendant abandoned his car and could not be located until late the next day, when he maintalned that he was unaware he had had an accident. When a passer-by suggested that the defendant should notify the authorities about the dangerous wires lying on the ground, he just replied that it was none of his business. "This is a case of either drink or gross negligence," said Mr. Miller in imposing a fine of £7 with costs 15/-. Defendant's licence was suspended for three months. J. H. Stephens was fined £3 with costs 18/- for hegligently driving a motor-car in Tomoana road, Hastings, on October 7. Defendant pleaded guilty by letter. The facts as outlined by Senior-Ser-geant Sivyer, weYe that defendant, while driving a small lorry at the intersection of Tomoana road and Erederick street, Hastings, struck a motor-car to which he should have given way. If he had not been driving so fast, said the senior-sergeant, defendant could have avoided the impact by steering to the left. A subsequent test had provcd the brakes ineffective with the result that the lorry had been ordered off the road.