GIVING WAY TO TRAFFIC

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22197, 14 September 1937, Page 16

GIVING WAY TO TRAFFIC

RULE OF HORSE-DRAWN VEHICLES JUDGMENT RESERVED AT GREYMOUTH Whether a Horse-drawn vehicle should give way to a motor vehicle at an intersection, irrespective of the right-hand rule, was. the subject of a case heard in the Magistrate's Court at Greymouth yesterday, when George Groom was charged with failing to give way to a motor vehicle at the intersection of High and Franklin streets. Mr Raymond Ferner. S.M., was on the Bench, and after hearing the evidence said he would reserve his decision. Senior-Sergeant E. Quayle, who prosecuted, said that the information was laid under a regulation which provided that a horse-drawn vehicle must give way to a motor vehicle at an intersection, no matter whether the motor vehicle was approaching from the right or the left. Mr W. D. Taylor, who represented defendant, submitted that under the wording of the particular section, the prosecution could not succeed. As it stood, the regulation was worded so that it took away the rights previously granted to horse-drawn vehicles. If the regulations were strictly applied, and two horse-drawn vehicles met at an intersection, neither would be able to proceed. The matter was one of considerable interest, and might be rather important, said the Magistrate. He proposed to adjourn it for consideration.