80 MILES AN HOUR

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20258, 29 July 1937, Page 10

80 MILES AN HOUR

NOT DANGEROUS SPEED. A MAGISTRATE’S RULING. CASE AT TIMARU. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) TIMARU, Thursday. That a speed of 80 miles an hour is not always dangerous was a ruling given by Mr. H. Morgan, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, to-day. He held that such a speed for an efficient highpowered car, handled by a competent driver on a straight clear stretch of road without intersections, was not dangerous to the public. The case, which was a test one, was one in which Thomas O. Fox, the Timaru borough engineer, was charged with driving at a dangerous speed at Selwyn, 2 0 miles south of Christchurch. It was stated that lie had travelled at 80 miles an hour. Evidence was given by a Transport Department traffic inspector that Fox was driving carefully, and that the road surface was good. Fox had slowed down at an intersection, and when passing a service car, which was throwing off papers to children, on the roadside, had reduced his speed to 20 miles an hour. His speed had been increased to 80 miles on a straight clear stretch of the road with no intersections, and very little traffic. In the opinion of witnesses, Fox was a competent driver, probably above the average. The inspector said that the Transport Department held, as a question of principle, that from 69 to 80 miles an hour was dangerous on any class of road. The magistrate said it was for the Legislature to fix a maximum speed. It had not been proved to his satisfaction that in the circumstances, a speed of 80 miles an hour was dangerous. He informed the inspector that his decision could be tested in the Supreme Court. The charge was dismissed.