HIT POWER POLE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 261, 31 July 1937, Page 15

HIT POWER POLE

“May Have Been Gassed” Giving evidence on his own . behalf when he was charged in the Magistrate’s Court, Lower Hutt, with negligent driving by colliding with a power pole, Normaji Bernard Yewen, taxi-driver, Wellington, said he may have been gassed by car fumes. There were other explanations, too, but tiiey did •' not sound likely, he added. He could not remember anything prior to hitting the pole. Mr. H. P. Lawry, S.M., imposed a fine of 30/- with costs 10/-. Constable C. E. Tanner said Yewen made a statement at the police station immediately after the accident to the effect that’ he went to Masterton from Wellington the previous night and started on the return trip at 12.30 a.m. About 3 a.m. he must have dozed, as the car hit a pole and was badly damaged. Me attributed his falling asleep to the monotony of the journey. The power lines bad been brought down by the impact, and the pole dislodged to an angle of 45 degrees. Mr. R. Hardie Boys submitted that the accident might have been due to other causes than defendant’s original explanation, which was only a conjecture, that he fell asleep. This was insufficient to prove negligence. Mr. Lawry found that it was negligence to mount the footpath and hit a newer pole on the wrong side of the road.