NEGLIGENT DRIVER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 635, 11 April 1929, Page 1

NEGLIGENT DRIVER

ACCIDENT TO SERVICE CAR BRAKES OUT OF ORDER (Special to THE SUN) HAMILTON, To-day. As the result of an accident in which he ran his car off the road into a drain, injuring two of his passengers, Wilfred Ewan W. Henson, of Edendale, Auckland, a ser-vice-car driver, was convicted in the Hamilton Magistrate’s Court yesterday with negligent and dangerous driving. Henson, who was represented by Mr. W. P. Fennell, was also charged with driving on the wrong side of the road and with failing to keep the brakes of his car in proper order. The case was heard before Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M. At the time of the accident, which was alleged to have occurred on the evening of March 6, defendant was driving five passengers from Auckland to Hamilton. Near Horotiu the car left the road and ran into a ditch, two passengers being hurt. Sergeant Mathieson, for the police, said that the car had beeii driven erratically all the way from Auckland. Near Ngaruawahia the lights had failed and when the car had run off the road it had been travelling at 40 miles an hour. Defendant had made a statement to the police shortly after the accident in which he said he left Auckland at 6.45 p.m. On the way he found that his foot-brake was not working and the hand-brake and steering gear were not working too well. Visability was bad owing to rain and the lack of a wind-screen wiper. The car was not licensed to carry passengers. One of the passengers in the car, John Corrigan, a farmer, of Matapara, said that defendant did not seem to have proper control of the gears. The speed was not out of the ordinary, though the driver did not appear to handle the car properly. Another passenger, Mary Rutherford, a nurse, said she did not think the driver was capable right from the beginning of the journey. In the opinion of defendant the brakes and steering gear did not require immediate attention on the day of the trip. At the time of the accident he was travelling about 25 miles an hour. He admitted that he knew he was infringing the regulations in not having two efficient brakes. Summing up, the magistrate said that the evidence showed the defendant did not know the car he was driving and that the foot-brake was out of order. The car was unfit to carry passengers and the defendant knew it. Henson was convicted on the charge of dangerous driving and fined £lO. His licence was suspended for three months and he was ordered to sell the car. On the other charges he was convicted and ordered to pay witnesses’ costs.