DRIVER GAOLED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 81, 6 April 1938, Page 9

DRIVER GAOLED.

j DEATH OF CYCLIST. i . RECKLESSNESS ALLEGED. i JUDGE'S STERN WARNING. (From <~>ur Own Correspondent.) SVIINKV. April 1. i While the frequent motor accident .accorded in every e : .vili«ed community throughout the world to-day mav be . ascribed to a jireat variety of cause-. I one constant source of alarm and danger to motorist* and pedestrians alike is the attitude of certain drivers who evi- , rlently regard the public highways ,as constructed primarily for themselves. ■and in effect challenge anybody who jdi-|mtes their pre-eminence to do so at ihis own risk. A striking instance of this sort came before Mr. .Ttistiee Maxwell la.-t week. and found him quite jeqnal to the occasion. In the Darlingjhurst Criminal Court. Frederick (Jray was charged with causing the death of Michael Andrews by reckless and 'dangerous driv inir. The story of the tragedy, as told by 'the principal witness, was supported liv |other evidence, and was accepted bv the |Cotirt as authentic and true. It appears 'that M. Andrews, the victim of the ■ accident, took his motor cycle out to 'Kojrarah on January 2!1. with hits friend ■Tohri Leach riding pillion behind i Leach's story was briefly as follow: — They were coining back to Sydney, and near Mascot a car cut in and "chopped them off." Leach swore that it came sr close as to brush his trousers.- and it jdrovc them three feet off the road. Whet I they caught up with the car again bv Ascot racecourse they expressed theit |feelings to the driver—one of them callei hint a fool, the other threatened to pul his nose. Swore at Them. The driver was incensed in turn an. swore at them; and furl Iter abut,: Botany Road, according 10 Leach. In "came at tbcm again." The car carm

t , along on the wrong side of the road. ! ;squeezed between the motor cycle and i the kerb and forced the cycle out on j to the tramlines. j They went on. though the car driver ■ shouted to them to t-top. and a little further on lie attacked them once more. 1 "I-fc . swooped in." Leach told Mr. •Justice Maxwell, "and forced us toward i 'the gutter ami then swung out. Hi' [then swooped in again, turned his ,-ar! on to us <md pushed us off the road." It all happened in a flash." said. 1 Leach. Andrew-, was dashed again-t a telegraph polo, was picked up with a. fractured skull and died in hospita!:j Ijcach w«is hurled on to tin' road aml i - got off lightly with a badly strained legj ,- and a broken wrist. The judge hold that Loach's statement was well r-übsttintiate.l. and he imposed sentence of two years' im|>risonment. ' '' Mr. Jnstieo Maxwell told (Jray that' e there was no reasonable doubt that he - had deliberatly ]>ursued and assaulted -; the motor cyclist-, apparently with the -. idea of iinpre-rdng upon them bis own 0 view of his "rights" on the road. ' ' I" the interests of other motorists. and of the whole community, this sort t of thin? could not be tolerated, and his 1 Honor expressed the hope that the seni» tein> he then pronounced would help to - remind motorists in general that thev !- have obligations as well as rights to f consider, and that any form of dcliber--1 ate mir-conduct on the roads which endangers human life or safety is liflble r to be dealt with in the same r as manslaughter or murder, e!