A DRIVER WHO SNEEZED

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22484, 19 August 1938, Page 20

A DRIVER WHO SNEEZED

■. ♦ MOTOR-LORHY STRUCK POWER POLE NEGLIGENT DRIVING CHARGE V DISMISSED [THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, August 18. The effect a fit of sneezing had on a motor-lorry driver whose vehicle struck a power pole and a gate post was discussed in the Lower Hutt Magistrate’s Court to-day, when Percy Jason Carlyle was charged with negligent driving on the Hutt road. Mr A. M. Goulding, SjM., was on the bench. Sergeant J. W. McHolm prosecuted, and said the accident happened just over a ramp in Lower Hutt. Constable Smith said that at 9 a.m. on July 14 he found a concrete power pole on the Hutt road severely damaged. The vehicle which caused the damage had travelled 68 feet along the footpath, and hit another post. Apart from damage to the lorry, the total amount of the damage done was £26. , t A statement was read in which the defendant said his speed was about 28 miles an hour. He was dazzled by the headlights of an approaching car, and pulled over to the left, intending to stop. He felt an impact, and then another one. , He attributed, the cause of the accident to dazzle and sneezing caused by influenza. - Mr R. J. Larkin submitted that no offence of negligent driving had been disclosed. The accident was inevitable, when defendant had this fit of sneezing. In evidence, defendant said the first impact affected the brakes. “What sort of a sneeze was it? asked Mr Larkin. “You are not going to ask for an illustration in Court, are you?” asked the Magistral, with a smile. “It was a fairly violent sneeze,” said defendant. „ - , . The Magistrate said he thought this was a case where he could give defendant the benefit of the doubt. It seemed that a combination of circumstances caused the accident up to the time that he hit the first post. He could not tell what had happened after that. The charge would be dismissed. .