Defensive driving course for youth

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 54, 9 July 1974, Page 4

Defensive driving course for youth

A 17 - year - old Taupo youth who suffered temporary amnesia following a ,h motor accident earlier this year was ^ ordered to pay $5 -p: court costs and to 3W attend a defensive an? driving course. T; Simon Cresswell Major, ,'V, lube bav attendant, X ' pleaded not guiltv before Mr P. J. Trapski, SM, in the Taupo Magistrate's rjt; , Court to a charge of iV* careless use. -i/Ji it.fi Senior-Sergeant R. Mon- ^ n cur appeared for the prosecution and Mr A. A. Liddell_for Major. Traffic Officer Patrick S. Westbury told the Court that in the early afternoon of May 6 he hacf**been called to an aecident on the Huka Falls loop road. , , "When I arrived a small sports car^was lying upside down on the side of the road," he said. - Major was lying beside the car and was ,being j.,.( attended by another S-Jj person. "It appeared from the marks on the road that the car had come from Wait rakei," said Mr Westbury. The car had gone round # a sharp right hand bend « and into some loose metal \ where the driver had lost J control. "It appeared to veer to « the incorrect side of the road and then back to its j correct side where it over- \ turned", he said. "Major was badly shocked and I could only

ascertain his name and , where to contact his | parents." Mr Westbury said the i corner was signposted with I a 25 m.p.h. warning and i although it was sharp it I was well-banked and could I be negotiated at 40-45 1 m.p.h. without much 1 trouble. Constable Brian Main, of the Taupo police, said he arrived at the scene when Major was being placed in the ambulance. "I have attended many accidents on that particular corner and most of them were caused by excessive speed," he said. In his defence, Major said he could only remember turning onto the loop road and changing gear as he went into the corner. "I can remember nothing of what happened after that," he said. He had held a driver's licence for 10 or 11 months and had bought the sports car only six weeks before the accident happened. The car had been mechanieally checked when he had bought it. In his submissions, Mr Liddell said the prosecution had not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. 1 It had not been proved ( that another car had not been involved — nor was the car checked after the accident for mechanical failure. "Undoubtedly there is abundant evidence that there was careless driving in this case," said Mr Trapski. "I consider the possibility of another person coming in the other direction remote."