SCOOTER RACES ROUND CIRCUIT IN SQUARE

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29067, 2 December 1959, Page 16

SCOOTER RACES ROUND CIRCUIT IN SQUARE

Motorists had to swerve or brake violently and pedestrians remained on footpaths or zones while a motor-scooter rider used the west part of Cathedral square as a racing circuit last evening. The rider, whose machine appeared not to be equipped with a muffler, roared several times around the circuit and eluded a traffic officer who chased him.

Traffic and police radio cars were brought to the Square and patrolled streets looking for the scooter rider for some time after, but without success.

It is understood that the rider and his machine can be identified from what was seen of both of them.

The scooter appeared to be making a time trial for the benefit of a group of motor-cyclists and their friends gathered on the Sumner bus zon£ their machines behind them. Each time the scooter passed they cheered and urged him on. This was about 10.10 p.m„ when traffic was moderate, but before the picture theatre audiences came out on to the streets in numbers.

The motor-scooter rider moved in and out of cars at a speed estimated at about 25 miles an hour at least—high for the confined space—and manoeuvred dangerously at sharp angles around the

ends of the central bus zone in front of the Cathedral. On his last clockwise circuit he approached his turn so fast it appeared that he must crash if he attempted to keep his intended path, but he kept his balance narrowly missing a pedestrian and avoiding collision with a large sedan coming into the square from the north only because of swift braking by the car driver.

Traffic Officer C. Wilson, coming in from the north on his motor-cycle, attempted to cut the scooter rider off by moving through -the bus zone, but his quarry was moving far too fast for him to catch.

The gap between the scooter and the traffic officer widened as the scooter was aimed along the inside of the roundabout cutting in between it and vehicles and passing between the vehicles themselves. The rider opened his throttle to hurtle into Colombo street to the north and then swerve violently across the Gloucester street intersection to the east.

As . the motor-cycle patrol moved from Colombo street into Gloucester street the scooter rider was seen to return to the Square down an alley in front of the Savoy Theatre. He then was lost sight of. Police and traffic reinforcements were soon on ' the scene and an alert was put out for the rider.