DRIVING WHILE SHAVING

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27999, 20 June 1956, Page 3

DRIVING WHILE SHAVING

Practice Legal In Britain (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, June 18. Mr John Fairrie, an engineer, today established his right tq shave himself with an electric razor while driving his car. He was found not guilty of driving while not being in a position to have proper control. A police constable who stopped him said he was driving at 20 miles an hour, with his left hand on the steering wheel and his right holding the electric razor. Fairrie argued that he was in full control. He recalled that when he was stopped he asked the constable: “What about a one-armed driver or a woman driver who combs her hair?”

He said that the constable remarked that disabled drivers had signs to that effect on their cars.

Fairrie asked ii ne was expected to have a notice on the back of his car stating: “Caution. Driver shaving.”

An officer of the Transport Department in Wellington commented: “The traffic regulations here have a word for it. and a traffic officer detecting anyone using an electric razor while driving would issue a ticket for driving without due care or attention, or in a dangerous manner. “The job of the driver is to drive,” he added, “and that is a full-time and a highly responsible job. ‘Attention diverted’ and ‘without due care and attention’ accidents figure far too highly in the records of deaths and injuries to be regarded as other than serious driving faults.”

American traffic rules permit television for persons in the back seat, but prohibit a screen on the dashboard.— (P.A.)