RECKLESS DRIVING

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 210, 29 April 1932, Page 6

RECKLESS DRIVING

SERIOUS ACCIDENT YOUNG MAN CONVICTED AND LICENSE ENDORSED CAR AND HORSE TEAM "I believe that the whole thing was caused by the speed and reckless driving of the defendant," said Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M., in the Rotorua Magistrate's Court yesterday when convicting Arthur Guthrie McClure, a 21-year-old insurance agent, of dangerous driving on the Ngongotaha Road on January 30. The prosecution was the outcome of a serious accident when McClure, who was on his way from Rotorua to Te Kuiti, crashed into a team of plough horses which were being driven along the road by a farm hand, William Parker. As a result of the accident, Parker was rendered unconscious and has been in hospital ever since, while one of the horses- was so badly injured that it had to be immediately destroyed. McClure defended the prosecution and denied the allegation of excessive speed, but after hearing the facts the Magistrate stated that he had no doubt that the defendant had driven in a reckless manner. After hearing strong representations on the subject of penalty from defendant's counsel, Mr. I. J. Goldstine (Auckland) the Magistrate inflicted a fine of £10 and endorsed McClure's driving license. Senior-Sergeant Carroll conducted the case for the police, and Mr. J. D. Davys watched the case for Parker. Constable Brown stated that following a report to the police station, he had proceeded to the scene of the accident. He had there met a man named Russell, who stated that he had been a witness of the accident and had pointed out to witness the marks of the car and horses. One horse was lying dead on the side of the road. Witness was informed that defendant had gone into Rotorua to report the accident, but while he was taking measurements, defendant returned. Witness showed defendant a rough plan he had drawn, showing the measurements, but defendant had offered no comment. The road at the scene of the accident was 30 feet wide over all with 24 feet of formed metal. The dis- • tance from the point of impact to the spot where the car came to rest was 23 feet, while the distance from the spot where the car commenced to swerve to the point of impact was 66 feet. The road was perfectly straight. McClure was quite sober when he returned. There were no skid marks on she road. In reply to Mr. Goldstine the constable said that he was relying entirely for his measurements upon what he had been told by the witness Russell. The swerve, from the wheel marks, did not appear to be sudden. Outlining the case, Sen'or-Sergeant Carrol said that on October 29, a man named Parker, employed as a farm labourer at Ngongotaha, had been driving two horses alohg the Ngongotaha Road, when he had been struck and seriously injured by a motor ea: which was passing. Parker had been knocked unconscious and his leg fractured in no less than eight places. He had been in hospital ever sinecas a result of the acc'dent and was still an out-patient. The sergeant then called Parker, who entered the court on crutches and was given a seat near the witness box. On the day in question, he said, that he had been engaged in some ploughing work for his employer, Mr. Russell. After completing this work, he had been obliged to move the horses, and had taken them out on the road in harness to drive them to another paddock. Witness sa;d iie was walking behind the horses on the grass on his correct side of the road until he came to the place where ne wished to turn the horses into the paddock. He then put out his hand to warn anyone who might be coming behind and proceeded to cross the road. He was almost across the road and on to the grass on the other side when he was suddenly struck from behind and knocked out. Actually he had no idea that he had been struck until several days afterwards. The horses had been perfectly qu'et while being driven along the road. Heard No Traffic. Questioned by Mr. Goldstine, the witness said he could not swear that he was driving the horses with boV.h hands. He might have used one, but he was an experienced teamster and could drive equally well with one hand. He had not looked behind him when putting his hand out, but he had heard no traffic behind him. He did not remember being enveloped in any cloud of dust by a passmg scrvice car. There was no gateway marked where he was about to turn in and he intended to tie the wires down. James Joseph Russell. of Fairy Springs, said that he had pulled dowi. portion of the fence to allow Parker to dr've his horses through. He saw Parker cross the road further dov/n and drive the horses along the lei'thand side of the road, but he did not take any further notice of him until he suddenly noticsd a car approaching from the rear at a fast speed. Parker was then in the act of turning the horses and had his hand out. Parker was almost across the road when ,the car struck him, knocking him down and then knocking down boih horses. Witness est'mated the speed of the car at 50 m.p.h. and heard no horn sounded. The car stopped and the driver got out and asked whether he haj hurt Parker. Witness replied "You have kilMd him." Measurements taken showed that it was 33 feet from the point of impact to the front of the car where it. pulled up. The road was perfectly straight and in good order. There was between 30 and 40 feet width of road. Horses Quiet. In reply to Mr. Goldstine, the witness adm'tted that no stranger would notice any opening into the paddock. There was no gateway. The car, appeared to witness to be a chain and a half to two chains back as Parker commenced to turn. The car started to pull off its correct side about a ■ chain back and was going so fast that it could not recover. The car was not pulled up by its brakes, but because it struck the horses. Witness had not noticed the horses play-

ing up. They were quiet animals and used to traffic. Constable Roberts said that on the 'afternoon of the accident, defendant Had come into the police station and had reported the accident. McClure had niade a statement in which he stated that the horses had got out of control as they were crossing the road and this had preeipitated the accident. McClure, in his statement, said that he was travelling at about 45 m.p.h. when the horses got out of control. He then immediately applied his brakes. The constable said that McClure was quite sober when he made the statement and said he was in a hurry to get to Te Kuiti. | Cross-examined, the constable said | that McClure did not tell him he was in a hurry to get to Te Kuiti until after he had signed the statement. He did not remember McClure saying anything about his vision being obscured by a cloud of dust. Inspector's Evidence. The borough traffic inspector, David Mario Ford, said that he had examined the scene of the accident. The point of the impact, according to the marks on the road, was about a foot from the right-hand side going towards Ngongotaha. The distance ' from the point of impact to where the car pulled up was 23 feet. With Constable Brown, he had traced back the wheel marks of the car for 66 feet from the point of impact. There was no signs of the car having been braked dov/n over this distance. Travelling at 45 m.p.h., the official tests showed that it would take a car 100 feet to pull up. To Mr. Goldstine, the inspector said that he had fixed the point of impact by the broken glass, bloodstains, and the disturbed state of the road. He had no doubt that this actually was the point of impact. This closed the police case, and Mr. Goldstine briefly opened. The defence, said counsel, was an absolute denial of liability. It would be shown that the horses had become restive and played up and that this fact, together possibly with a lack of care on the part of Parker, had led to the accident. . Defendant's Story The defendant, Arthur Guthrie McClure, insurance agent, estimated that prior to the accident he was travelling at a speed between 40 and 45 m.p.h. There was no reason why he should not have travelled at this pace, and he considered that on a straight stretch of road, the speed was quite safe. Just prior to the collision be was passed by a service car which threw up a cloud of dust obscuring the visibility. As witness entered this dust cloud, he slowed down to about 25 m.p.h. Suddenly. he perceived two horses on the side of the road with a man who appeared to be leading them. He saw no signal given and the horses appeared to get out of control, rearir/ across the road. He pulled over to his right to get past the horses, but they reared again and the man appeared to run across in front of him. He swung still further to the right in an endeavour to' avoid the man but the accident could not be averted. The car struck one horse on the hindquarters and also struck the man with the radiator knocking him down. Witness immediately pulled up and got out to see what had happened to the man who was lying on the ground. The horse was lying right in front of the car, and was kicking spasmodieally. In order to avoid the posibility of damage, witness moved his car further up the road. If the horses had been on the right side of the road, there would have been no necessity for witness to swing to the right — he could have gone straight through. Cross examined by the Senior Sergeant, the witness contended that he .had been doing only a reasonable speed at the t'me of the collision, he had slowed down to 25 m.p.h. He would be surprised to hear that a passenger in the service car considered he was travelling at 50 m.p.h. In reply to the Magistrate, the defendant said that the horses were about in the middle of the road when he first sdw them. He considered that there was room to pass them on the right and consequently he did not slow down further. Leslie Thomas Gamble, said he was travelling in a truck and passed the horses on the left of the road. The road was very dusty and a service car which passed at that moment left a cloud of dust. He turned round to see how the horses had fared and immediately perceived that there had been an accident. From the position of the horses and their driver he considered that the accident had occurred in the middle of the road. "I have no doubt that defendant was dr'ving in a manner dangerous to the public," said the Magistrate in summing up. "The evidence shows that Parker was driving the tv/o horses and was turning the team to the right when he was struck by the car driven b^ the defendant. I ac*cept the evidence of Parker that he gave a signal before he turned. Apparently the defendant was approaching at a very fast pace and I am satisfied that the acc:dent was 'caused in the first place by that speed, and in the second place by defendant failing to keep sufficient look-out. I am not satisfied that his vision was obscured by dust and I do not believe as he states, that the horses began to play up. I believe that the whole thing was due to the speed and reckless driving of the defendant." Mr. Goldstine at this stage, asked , leave to address the court on the subject of penalty. The defendant, he sa'd, was only 21 years of age. At ' the time of the accident he had been employed as a representative of General Motors Acceptance Corporation, , but since that date, he had been retrenched with a number of other members of the staff. He had absolutely no prospects of paying a heavy fine, and if such a penalty was imposed, would have no other alternative but to go to gaol. Finally, counsel asked his Worship to take into account the fact that there had already been a large number of adjournments of the case and that his cl'ent had been put to considerable worry and expense over these. He felt that the Magistrate would be very reluctant to force a young man such as the defendant to accept the alternative of going to prison.' The Magistrate said that in these cases, the punishment must fit the crime. The Court must of course, con-

sider the ability of the defendant to pay a.fine, but after all, the dominant consffieration was the safety of the public. Such penalties must be inflicted as would malce drivers more eareful and deter others from reckless and dangerous driving. There was altogether too much reckless driving at the present time, and he noticed that even at Home, legislation had lately been introduced to deal more stringently with this class of offender. Defendant would be fined £10 and his license would be endorsed. One month would be allowed in which to pay the fine.