"BEATING THE TRAM."

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 39, 16 February 1928, Page 5

"BEATING THE TRAM."

MOTORIST TOOK A BISK. FINED FOR DANGEROUS DRIVING, ■ The practice, common to many motorists, of accelerating in order to pass tramcars before they reach their stop* ping places was adversely commented upon by Senior-Sergeant D. Scott, in the Magistrate's Court in Wellington, when a man pleaded not guilty to the charge that he had driven in a dangerous manner. Evidence was given that the defendant overlooked an outward-bound tram as it rounded the corner, and then ran down a cyclist. Witnesses contended that defendant took a risk in overtaking the tram at that point as there was not much room to spare between the tram and the kerb. > Defendant's explanation was that he rounded the corner before the tram. Three cyclists were riding abreast slightly ahead of him. He sounded the horn, and one of the cyclists swerved into the gutter and then out again in front of his car. He had accelerated to try to pass the tram before it stopped. "That's just it," said the Senior-Ser-geant. "You were trying, as many other motorists do, to get ahead of the tram. If motorists in Wellington were more careful of this sort of thing, there would be fewer accidents. You took a risk as I have seen many motorists do, daily. Surely the cyclist has as much right to a little of the road as the motorist, who seems to want the whole of it." Defendant was fined £3.