NEWMARKET FATALITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 179, 30 July 1926, Page 10

NEWMARKET FATALITY.

GLENNON FOUND NOT GUILTY. THE RIGHTS OF TRAFFIC. JURY'S RIDER FOR SIRENS. After deliberating for three hours the jury in the charge of negligent driving preferred against Daniel Richard Francis Glennon, driver of the Parnell Fire Brigade engine, yesterday returned a verdict of not guilty. The accused was charged with having driven his machine in a negligent manner so as to cause the death of Mrs. Elizabeth J. Power on March 19. The trial was taken before Mr. Justice Stringer. Mr. V. R. Meredith prosecuted, and Mr. Allan Moody appeared for the accused, and pleaded not guilty.

The case for the Crown, as set out last night, was that the accused drove his machine through Broadway, Newmarket, at a speed of from 30 to 40 miles an hour on his way to a fire in Remuera. When he approached the safety zone in Newmarket he saw that he could not pass on the correct side because of the traffic. He therefore pulled out to his right and proceeded on his wrong side, and, while doing that, he struck the deceased who had stepped off the footpath and who was walking to the safety zone.

Mr. Moody said it was not contended that a fire engine had any extra rights on the road, and if the accused was acquitted that would not be used as a basis for making such a claim. The city by-laws required that all traffic should give way to a fire engine, the speed of which must not be diminished by the actions of the other traffic. It would be contended that the accused was justified in going over to the other side of the road, and that there was some duty on pedestrians to take care.

In evidence the accused stated that he had been in the service of the Fire Board for three years, and for the past eighteen months had been driver of the Parnell fire engine. He had never had an accident before. He estimated his speed on entering Kewmarket at thirty miles an hour. As the road was blocked he took the other side, as there was a clear passage there. As he approached the safety zone he slowed down. The woman crossed the road in front of the engine, and he applied his brakes to give her a ehanc to get clear. When she neared the safety zone, however, she hesitated and turned back. Although he tried to avoid her the engine struck her.

Other evidence was called in support of the accused's character and capabilities.

His Honor's Summing Up.

His Honor said that while a fire engine had no additional rights over the road, it would be contrary to commonsense to say that drivers of fire engines must be judged upon exactly the same lines as the driver of an ordinary motor car. While they had no special privileges they were expected to get to their destinations as quickly as possible, for not only property but life might depend on their speedy arrival. In Auckland and in other cities the rule had been made that other traffic must give way to a fire engine, and in that case it would not be fair to the accused, a competent, decent, capable young fellow, to weigh his conduct on exactly the same scale as that of one who had no special duty in making haste. If accused believed that he had the right to charge the traffic on the left side of the zone and expect it to give way, no commonsense jury would acquit him, it' in doing so he had caused an accident. Accused had seen that the, other side of the road was clear of traffic, and had used it. The law entitled people to use all parts of the road, although it was laid down that there were right and wrong sides of the road for traffic. Even if the engine had been travelling at twenty miles an hour, only a few seconds would elapse between the time it entered the zone and the time it cleared it. Could the jury say without reasonable doubt that the accused had been neglectful ? He did not think the accused could be blamed for the old lady's natural hesitation and her stepping back. Taking the matter impartially, it seemed to him that the question for the jury was whether the speed was dangerous or not. Even although the jury thought the accused made an error of judgment he should be acquitted.

A verdict of not guilty was returned, the jury adding a rider to the effect that it would be advisable if sirens were Installed in Newmarket to clear the streets before the approach of a fire engine.

His Honor said he -would refer the suggestion to the authorities responsible.