Informations dismissed on careless driving

Press, 19 December 1989, Page 22

Informations dismissed on careless driving

A Christchurch reinsman appeared in the District Court at Christchurch yesterday on charges of carelessly using a motorvehicle and causing death by carelessly using a motor-vehicle. The charges were laid in the alternative. Rodney Alan Butt, aged 20 (Mr Barrie Atkinson Q.C.) pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the informations were dismissed. Butt appeared before Judge Hattaway. The prosecution, led by Senior Traffic Sergeant Alan Dando, called eight witnesses. Senior Traffic Sergeant Dando said the defendant had been charged as a result of a fatal motor crash at the stop sign controlled intersection of Kirk Road and Maddisons Road, near Templeton Hospital, on April 26 this year. A motor-cyclist, Mr Aidan McLaughlin, was driving his Kawasaki motorcycle, and died at the scene of the accident.

Judge Hattaway said the prosecution’s task was to prove that Butt’s lack of care, driving, caused McLaughlin’s death. Evidence was heard from three of the prosecution witnesses that it appeared the motorcyclist may have been travelling well in excess of the open road speed limit because of injuries suffered by the motorcyclist, and because of damage to the vehicles. Judge Hattaway said he was sure that Butt had not failed to look when he was at the intersection, because Butt had said he had seen cars coming from the other direction. One of the prosecution witnesses was one of those drivers. During counsel’s suming up, Mr Atkinson put it to the Court that there were three possible explanations as to why Butt did not see the motorcycle. One was that Butt did not look. The second was that a telephone pole, because

of its positioning near theintersection, obscured Butt’s view. The last was that the motor-cyclist was travelling even faster than for the second explanation, and so was not visible to the defendant because of the distance. Judge Hattaway said that he thought the driver of the motor-cycle was travelling at a far greater speed than the area allowed him to. He felt that the speed McLaughlin could have been travelling would have meant that Butt would have been very unlikely to judge it if he had seen McLaughlin, as road users were expected to obey the road rules. He felt the defendant had done his duty, and he was not satisfied the driver had driven carelessly. Judge Hattaway was also satisfied that Butt was honest and reliable. He said Butt could be criticised for not looking a second time in the direction the motorcyclist came from.