CYCLIST KNOCKED DOWN

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 129, 2 June 1936, Page 4

CYCLIST KNOCKED DOWN

MOTORIST BEFORE COURT

A collision between a car and a ■ cycle resulted in the appearance in the ; Magistrate's Court today before Mr. E D Mosley, S.M., of James Gordon Smith, driver of the car, on a charge of negligent driving. Sub-Inspector C. E. Roach said that on the evening of April 14 the defendant was driving east along Seatoun Road. As he approached the Boss Street intersection he overtook and knocked down a boy on a bicycle. There were two cyclists riding side by side, and the defendant said that he did not see them. He felt a bump but did not know what he had flit. He went on a hundred yards, and then went back. The boy received an injury which necessitated the insertion of ten stitches in his arm, The bicycle was badly damaged. Both bicycles had lights and reflectors, Three witnesses for the prosecution gave evidence. The defendant said that his speed was under 18 miles per hour, as he was in no hurry at the time. He was anything from seven to eight feet out from the side of the bitumen and nine or ten feet from the bank. There was one high street light at every intersection, but none on the side the cyclists were pn. He saw the front wheel of the cycle in front of his left lamp and felt a bump, but did not think he had knocked the' cyclist over. The Magistrate: Why did you say in the statement that you did not see anybody on the road before or during the collision? The defendant; I did not see anybody. I saw only the wheel. He had been driving twenty-four years, and had never before been involved in an accident Sub-Inspector Roach: The question ' I would like to ask! is why you did not see the cyclists. l The defendant: I do not know. Re- ' flectors ere the bugbear of motorists, '. as it is.impossible to. see them unless : the lights are fully on them. ! The Magistrate: They have as much ; right on the road as you have, you , know. They were complying with the ' regulations. ' A witness who W9S in the defend- ■ ant's car said that he saw the cyclists ; plainly, and that the inside cyclist , appeared to turn. Mr. Goodwin, who. appeared for the " defendant, pointed out that the.dam--3 age to the car was near the door, and J that the damage to > the bicycle was 1 chiefly confined to the front wheel. 5 "It is not a serious case, cert3inly, but ; the defendant is guilty of negligence 1 within the meaning : of the Act," said 3 the Magistrate. } 3 The defendant was fined £2 and costs.