Judge criticises M.O.T. for not heeding warning

Press, 19 February 1986, Page 4

Judge criticises M.O.T. for not heeding warning

PA Hamilton The Ministry of Transport has been : criticised by a District Court judge for not responding to a warning about a parked truck later involved in a fatal accident. Larry Gordon Dobson, aged 35, a fitter and turner, of Hamilton, appeared before Judge Latham for sentence. Dobson had earlier been found guilty by a jury on a charge of careless use of a motorvehicle causing the death of a passenger, while driving under the Influence of alcohol.

He was sentenced to six months periodic detention and disqualified from driving for a year.

Earlier the Court was told that a motorist, Terence Robert Ward, had nearly hit the truck near Horotiu on the evening of June 7. Mr Ward had gone to his office in Hamilton and telephoned the Ministry of Transport. When he was driving back almost two hours later he saw there had been an accident. The truck, which had earlier been converted and abandoned, was “fairly and squarely” on the southbound lane of the road, the Judge said. It appeared from the evidence that Mr Ward had gone out of his way to telephone the Ministry

and advise of the presence of the unlighted truck. “Clearly, no action was taken on his complaint,” the Judge said. Mr Ward had felt so incensed that he wrote to the Minister of Transport. “I only hope that the Minister took appropriate action and made his concern felt to the officers concerned in the same way as I share that concern,” the Judge said. Addressing Dobson, the Judge said Mr Ward and another witness “had sufficient ability and capa-

city’’ to react to the situation.

“Your position on the other hand was that your perception and your capacity to react were so clouded by the alcohol you had taken that you collided with the vehicle.”