THE MOTOR-MENACE

Hokitika Guardian, 13 October 1920, Page 4

THE MOTOR-MENACE

(Per Press Association.)

GISBORNE, Oct. 12

The inquest concerning the death of Bertie A. Rhodes, a returned soldier, from injuries caused by a motor collision, was concluded to-day. The Coroner, Mr Barton, said he had visited the scene of the accident, and found, according to the evidence, of marks on the roadway that the speed of the car could not have been less than 25 miles an hour. This was not a safe speed, and the car was not being driven as it should have been. He returned the following verdict: “That Bertie . Athol Rhodes died at Gisborne Hospital on, September 2Gth as the result of the collision of a motor cycle, driven by him,, and a motor car, driven by Mary Alice Leslie.” That was his verdict and he. would take the responsibility of saying that the girl should not be connected with the case. There was an anomaly, that, while engineers were required to show qualifications for running stationary engines, a child of 14 was allowed to drive round the street in a car qf 40 horse power. The driver of the car had not shown the discretion due from one controlling a motor car, but when the driver was a girl of 14 years, it was not reasonable to expect much discretion. His Worshop took the full responsibility for making the verdict an open one. He wished,-.however, to add the following rider:—“ln my opinion it is urgently necessary that the Gisborne Borough Council should legislate first to provide ia system for licensing the drivers of motor cars, licenses to be issued only to adult persons each of whom proves to the satisfaction of the council there ability to handle and drive a motor car in the borough traffic; and secondly, to prohibit, under penalty, the driving of a car by a person other than a licensed driver within the borough.”