“BUS DRIVERS SHOULD TAKE MORE CARE”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 215, 30 November 1927, Page 15

“BUS DRIVERS SHOULD TAKE MORE CARE”

MAGISTRATE’S WARNING

COUNCIL DRIVER FINED As a result of a collision between a City Council bus and a motor-lorry in Gil Ires Avenue, Epsom, on the evening of October 31, J. P. Daniels, bus driver, was charged in the Police Court with negligent driving. Police evidence showed that owing to engine trouble the driver of the lorry had parked the vehicle on the wrong side of the road but under a street light to examine the engine. While the lorry was standing there the bus ran into the back of it, injuring the driver and his brother, who were underneath attending to their machine. The father of the two men, who was standing beside the lorry, said that all lights were burning. Giving evidence, Daniels said that no tail light -was showing on the lorry, and he did not see the vehicle until a moment before t'.ae collision. After the accident he examined the tail light of the lorry, which, he said was hanging down broken and had been so for some time before the accident. There was a slight drizzle, which had obscured his windscreen. Mr. A. H. Johnstone, for the defendant, show r ed that the lorry was standing near the middle of .the road, and contended that as no red light was burning on the lorry Daniels could not have seen the vehicle in time to avoid an accident. The magistrate, Mr. F. K. Hunt, said that it was obvious Daniels had relaxed his attention for a moment and thus failed to see the lorry. Greater care was required by some bus drivers and some arrangement should be provided for keeping windscreens of council buses clear in rainy weather. Daniels was convicted and fined £1 and costs, and £2 witnesses’ expenses.