PROSECUTIONS FOR SPEEDING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3937, 2 May 1929, Page 4

PROSECUTIONS FOR SPEEDING.

A ruling to the effect that it "was not possible to bring prosecutions for dangerous driving under section 15 of the Motor Traffic Regulations, 1928, !was given by Mr. Wyvern W]Uson, S.M., in the Hamilton Magistrate’s Court on Friday (states the “New Zealand Herald”). Mr. W, J. King, for R. C. Spence, who was charged with driving at forty utiles an hour, said he 'would like to draw attention to the fact that the section under which the information was laid did not provide for a conviction. It merely gave a table of speeds to he applied when a person was charged under section 28 of the Motor Vehicles Act. The Magistrate said that where a local bylaw fixed a maximu!ni speed for certain localities that constituted an absolute prohibition against exceeding that speed. Where a ©an was charged with exceeding the regulation speed the matter was different. A regulation which prescribed for a speed limit of 35 miles on a country road was not an absolute prohibition, hut was only prima facie evidence of danger to the public, and might he repudiated by showing that there was no actual danger to the public The present charge) said the Magistrate, should be amended to one of causing a breach of the borough bylaws. This was done, and a fine of £2 was imposed.