PROSECUTION FAILS

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30191, 24 July 1963, Page 7

PROSECUTION FAILS

Charge Of Passing School Bus

“Both traffic officers have said thait the sign was not particularly conspicuous. I can sympathise with the de-

fendant, who was travelling towards the school bus and would not be able to see the sign until he got near to it. I think that there is at least an element of doubt that the sign was not properly displayed." said Mr A. P. Blair, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday when dismissing a charge against Flewellyn Herbert Beynon of exceeding 10 miles an hour when passing a stationary school bus.

Beynon pleaded not guilty, and conducted his own case. The defendant had been unfortunate in being apprehended, said Traffic Sergeant J. McMorran when opening the case for the City Council’s traffic department. There was no suggestion that he was a persistent offender and he did not live in the area. Traffic Officer C. Baldwin said that on the afternoon of April 24 he was checking the speed of vehicles passing a stationary school bus in Hoon Hay road, opposite Lewis street, with a microwave detector. The defendant’s van went past on the opposite side of the road at 29 miles an hour.

Traffic Officer D. Loughhead said the check was made after complaints had been received from the Transport Board. When he was stopped the defendant said he did not think he had done anything wrong. He had been below the speed limit, and had not realised it was a school bus until he was immediately opposite it

Giving evidence. Beynon said the signs on the bus did not comply with the regulations. The sign should have been right on the front of the radiator of the bus,and not inside. The sign was not clear, and was not displayed correctly. It was an ordinary Transport Board bus, stopped at a usual stop, said the defendent. He saw the radar ear. but had no reason to worry as he was travelling under the speed limit. He braked when he saw the “School Bus” sign at the last minute. There was a big difference in the signs displayed by the Transport Board buses and those on the New Zealand Road Services buses, utiich were visible some distance away.

The prosecution had to establish that the signs were properly displayed, the Magistrate said. He accepted that technically the signs were of the required size. Quoting from the Traffic Regulations. 1956, the Magistrate said that drivers could not pass a stationary school bus, discharging or embarking passengers. at a speed in excess of 10 miles an hour. A school bus had to display a sign at the rear and front, with the words "School Bus” in black capital letters, at least six inches high, on a yellow background.