MOTORIST FINED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 85, 20 January 1938, Page 7

MOTORIST FINED.

FAST DRIVE TO PICTON. SEVERAL INCIDENTS ON ROAD. (Per Press Association.) BLENHEIM, January 19. Rex Ashby Rudkin, of Christchurch, a salesman, was fined £lO, ordered to pay witnesses’ expenses amounting to £4 6s, and to produce his licence for endorsement by Mr T. E. Maunsell,

S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court today, when he was convicted of driving at a dangerous speed on the main highway near Blenheim. Senior-Sergeant Smyth said that the evidence available indicated that the defendant travelled at an excessive speed in a journey from Christchurch to Picton. He was reported for speeding through Kaikoura and had a collision with a motor-lorry before .reaching Blenheim, but did not stop. Then

he allegedly picked up a horse on the bonnet of bis car and carried it for more than 100 yards, resulting in injuries to the horse j necessitating its destruction. Even then he covered some 25 miles in half an hour. Explaining the accident in a letter to the Court, defendant said that he was relying on “the courtesy of the road,” expecting the car descending a hill to give way to his car, which was ascending. The Magistrate declined to take this into account, remarking that he had never heard a convincing explanation of the theory. It appeared to be a most serious ease. Whether a car was going uphill or clown, it must be driven with reasonable care.