DIMMING OF MOTOR LIGHTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3571, 4 December 1926, Page 4

DIMMING OF MOTOR LIGHTS.

DIRECT CAUSE OF FATAL ACCIDENT. Auckland, December 3. “I think the dimming of the cars’ headlights was the great factor in causing the accident,” said the Coroner, Mr Hunt, S.M., in returning a verdict, of accidental death at the inquest concerning the death of George Aldridge, pastor of West St. Church of Christ. Deceased was knocked down by a motor car in Dominion road on October 12, and died later in the Auckland Hospital. Mr Northcroft said that .the driver could not appear as he had been seriously ill since the accident. In a statement to the police, the driver said that he dimmed his lights on account of the approach of two other cars. He swerved to avoid deceased, but could not effect a clearance. Mr Hunt said he found nothing to show that there was any negligence on the part of the driver. “The. time has’ come,” he said, “when the authorities will have to do something in the matter of dimming headlights. I am quite sure that if deceased could have seen a ray of light from the car the accident would not have occurred. The man would be alive to-day if the lights had not been dimmed.”