MAGISTRATE’S COURT Left of roadway defined in motorway decision

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32678, 6 August 1971, Page 6

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Left of roadway defined in motorway decision

A driver in the right lane of a two-lane motorway who has overtaken a vehicle in the left lane does not have to cross into the left lane, according to a reserved decision given by Mr P. L. Molineaux, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The application of regulation 6 (1) of the Traffic Regulations, 1956 (the regulation requiring a motorist to keep his vehicle as near as practicable to the left of the roadway) to the whole of a motorway would convert a two-lane highway into a

single lane and obliterate the purpose of the motorway, he said.

The Magistrate dismissed an information alleging a breach of the regulation brought by the Ministry of Transport against Lawrence Clement Dawson. Mr M. J. Glue appeared for the defendant when he pleaded not guilty to the charge on July 21.

The defendant was charged with failing to keep hjs vehicle as near as practicable to the left of the motorway at Belfast on December 26. The undisputed facts were that a traffic officer travelling south in the left lane at about 35 miles an hour was overtaken by the defendant travelling in the right lane. The defendant remained in the right lane for about a mile and a half until he reached the restricted area of Belfast.

When asked why he did not move into the left lane after passing the patrol car, the defendant said he thought he could use either lane on a motorway or multi-laned roadway. The Magistrate said the traffic officer took the view that as soon as the overtaking manoeuvre was completed the driver was obliged to continue in the left lane. "If such were the case,” the Magistrate said, “the use of the right-hand lane is limited to serving the purpose of an extended passing bay along the length of the motorway except when the build-up of traffic was such as to require the use of both lanes for traffic travelling in the same direction at the same time. This would tend to give the right-hand lane a function of somewhat secondary importance, that of merely facilitating the overtaking of vehicles in the lefthand lane.”

Equality of status for vehicles travelling in the same direction where the roadway was divided into lanes appeared to be implicit from the wording of regulation 7, the, Magistrate said. Each lane became a roadway, using the terminology of the definition in the regulations. The purpose of the motorway was to provide fot speedy, and comfortable ingress and egress to and from metropolitan areas for large volumes of traffic at peak periods. They were constructed in such a way as to permit of two lanes of vehicles proceeding in the same direction at the one time in parallel. “Literal application of the prosecution point of view reduces the effective application of such a scheme almost to a minimum by converting the whole of the traffic along its length that is not engaged in passing manoeuvres into a single lane,” the Magistrate said. “A s I see it, a motorway contains two portions used or reasonably usable fot vehicles travelling in the same- direction. . . . “As applied to a motorway, the rule requires a driver of each vehicle to keep as near as practicable to the left side of the lane that he is travelling in. As this was just what the defendant was doing he was not, in my view, in breach of the regulation”

The Magistrate said that as there appeared to be no reported decision available and the point was of importance, he had invited the prosecuting officer to ask for a case to be stated for the opinion of the Supreme Court if he wished. (Before Mr H. 3. Evans, S.M.) YOUTH CONVERTED CAB A youth who filled to return a car to a dealer after taking it for a trial drive pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully converting it. He waa Christopher Cleave, aged 17, unemployed (Mr L J. D. Hall). Cleave was convicted on this charge and on a charge of driving while disqualified, to which he also pleaded guilty. He was remanded in custody to August 12 for sentence.

Sergeant W. J. Nicholl said that Cleave obtained the car.

worth $1175, from Amur! Motors, Ltd, on July 26 after saying that he was Interested in buying it. He said he wanted to take the car to a garage for a check, but had not returned it the next day. Cleave and two friends were found by the police in the car in Cathedral Square at 10.45 E.m. on July 28. Cleave said he ad no IntenUon of buying the car and did not intend to convert it unlawfully. Cleave said he could not realst the temptation to drive the car about and told his friends he had bought it. He waa just waiting to get caught. (Before Mr W F. Brown, S.M.) BURGLAR FINED $lOO “To Impress on you the seriousness of this offence you will be fined $lOO, released on probation for two years, and ordered to pay restitution of $40,” the Magistrate said to Brian Lloyd Hanham, aged 21, a bushman (Miss J. M. Manson), when Hanham appeared for sentence on a charge of burglary. Hanham burgled the premises of H. W. Clark, Ltd, at 256 Cashel Street, where electric shavers, radios, a tape-recorder, stereogram, and heater were taken. He denied taking all these goods and also causing $221.61 worth of damage to the warehouse and $8.86 damage to a switchboard. Miss Manson said it was four years and a half since Hanham's last offence. He lost his job while remanded in custody. No fingerprints of Hanham were found on the premises and he denied taking some of the goods. He returned to the warehouse on a bicycle to take a stereogram. (Before Mr M. C. Astley, S.M.) EXCESSIVE ALCOHOL In a reserved decision on a charge of driving with an excessive alcohol concentration )ennia Donovan, aged 54, (Mr G. R. Lascelles), was convicted and fined $5O and disqualified from driving for six months, the term of disqualification to be served concurrently with a term imposed previously. Senior Traffic Officer J. McMorran said that the defendant was found at a friend's home two hours after being involved In an accident. He had had a substantial quantity of alcohol and was seml-intoxlcated. He admit-

ted he had had liquor before the accident.

When Donovan appeared before the Magistrate on July 29 he was convicted end fined $5O and disqualified from driving for nine months on a charge of proceeding from a stop sign before the way was clear. On a charge of falling to accompany a traffic officer to the police station he was fined $lO. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.