A Bicycle Accident.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2135, 28 July 1898, Page 2

A Bicycle Accident.

JUDGMENT AGAINST A ROAD BOARD. A judgment of interest to local bodies and cyclists was given in the Supreme Court, Wellington, on Monday by the Chief Justice, in the appeal cases of Tait v. Featherston Road Board. Plaintiff had claimed damages from the Road Board for injury to his bicycle by a collision at night with a barricade which the Board had -placed across the road to protect travellers from an unsafe bridge. A temporary bridge had been erected on another part of the road, but the barricade was not lighted in any way. The magistrate had decided that the act complained of was not a negligent act, and that the omission to light was not evidence of negligence. The Chief Justice said it was, perhaps, not improper for those who had the management of repairing roads to place material on the roads, but in such eases, if material remained on a road on a. dark night, those responsible for placing it there must provide a light or other means of warning. Whether defendants were authorised or not to r jet the barricade, they were responsible for the consequences if a p< rson using the highway, in the ex ercise of his right of passage, met with any injury caused by want of the precaution necessary for tho protec tion of such a passenger. The de : 'cision of the magistiate ought to have been th t defendants ; \vere liable, ihe case must go back for assessment of damages, and plaintiff was entitled to the costs of the appeal.