Vehicle Which Damaged Parked Car Traced

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30155, 12 June 1963, Page 17

Vehicle Which Damaged Parked Car Traced

A woman who parked her car in the street at the weekend found in the morning that the front of it had been extensively damaged. The car was not insured, and the woman, in some distress, reported the incident at the Christchurch Central Police Station. Constables of the motor accident branch went to the scene and from broken glass and flakes of paint deduced the colour, size and probable make of the vehicle which had run into the parked car. All beat constables were requested to keep a look out for a car with damage to the front of it, and given the colour and probable make.

Later, a constable saw a damaged car, answering the description to the one sought, parked in a street in another suburb The driver was interviewed after the constables and detectives had made further inquiries and had tried matching Jhe flakes of paint and broken glass with the car.

An amendment to the 1956 Traffic Regulations says that the driver of a vehicle who causes damage to any other vehicle, or property, must report this to the owner of the damaged car. or property, as soon as is practicable; within

48 hours, the driver must also report the damage to the police. Under the original regulations, a driver was only required to report the damage to the police. This meant, in practice, that the police spent many long hours of inquiries into reported incidents ■, in which, on many occasiohs, the owner of the damaged vehicle had not reported the incident.

“Reporting damage to the owner or user of a parked car. with nobody in it when the incident occurred, can be done by leaving a note in the car, under the windscreen if the car is locked; taking the car’s registration number and from it ascertaining the owner; or finding out where the owner or user is at the time of the accident,” said a police officer yesterday. He said that if a person was in a vehicle that was parked, and the driver of another vehicle damaged it but did not stop, it could be held to be a hit-and-run accident. A person could be prosecuted for failure to report an accident if he struck a parked car with nobody in it, and did not notify the driver or user as soon as practicable, or report it to the police within 48 hours.