DIPPING OF LIGHTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 117, 19 May 1937, Page 12

DIPPING OF LIGHTS

CORONER'S COMMENTS

DUTIES OF DRIVERS "The title 'road hog' is a very apt one, especially for the motorist who wants all the road and won't dip his lights when you dip yours," declared the Coroner (Mr. E. Gilbertson) when returning a verdict at an inquest today. "It would be very much safer if dimming of lights 'when passing were made compulsory for all. The glare resulting from a 'road hog's' refusal to dim was clearly the' cause of this fatality." The inquest where the Coroner spoke was held on Alfred James Stanley Colenso, a farm labourer, aged 41, and a verdict was returned that he died on the Upper Hutt Road on the evening of April 30 from head injuries received through his being knocked down by a motor-car. ' Mr. Gilbertson said that this was just another' case of lack of consideration by one motorist for another. The accident had clearly been caused by the glare from approaching lights. The driver of the car which had. struck the deceased had dipped his lights, but the other driver had not been sufficiently courteous to do the same. The deceased could easily have been seen if the other car's lights had been dimmed. During the hearing of evidence, a witness observed that in the part of the Wairarapa where he lived, motorists made -a practice of dipping their lights. Mr. Gilbertson: In my experience not one in ten motorists in general do so, and their failure in this respect frequently creates some very dangerous stiuations. On a recent Hawke's Bay trip, I passed fifty cars travelling in the opposite direction, and not one driver dipped his lights. Mr. O. C. Mazengarb (who appeared for the car driver):. Some people want all ,the road and decline to dip their own lights even though you dip your own. DRIVER'S EVIDENCE. Horace Noel Mason, a motor-body builder, aged 22, said that he left Wellington about 5.45 -p.m. on April 30 with his father on a duck-shooting trip to Lake Wairarapa. He was travelling at about 25 m.p.h. in rain, with bad visibility. When 300 yards from the Brown Owl Tearooms a car approached with both headlights burning. Witness dipped his lights. When he was about to pass the other car, he suddenly . noticed a man with a swag on his back walking on the bitumen road directly in front of his car, and some four feet away. He immediately swerved and braked, but the man was struck at the same time by the left-hand lamp and mudguard. The car stopped about 24 feet from the point of impact. The man fell clear. Witness said that his brakes were in good order and that if he had only seen the man earlier he could easily : have pulled up and avoided him. The man had possibly "been dazzled by the lights of the approaching car and did not notice witness's car approaching from behind with dipped lights. On the lefthand side of the road (the western side), where the bitumen ended, the surface was rough and stony, and as there was no formed footpath, anyone walking in a northerly direction would naturally walk on the bitumen. The man who was struck was dead when a. doctor arrived soon afterwards. DAZZLED BY CAR-LIGHTS. To Sub-Inspector C. E. Roach (who conducted the inquest): I did not see deceased earlier because of the bad .visibility caused by the rain, and because I had dipped my lights and the other driver did not do the same. The man was also wearing dark clothing. The other car's lights reflected on my windscreen. , To Mr. Mazengarb: I would expect a pedestrian walking on the bitumen to be on the opposite side of the road, that is, facing approaching lights. Sub-Inspector Roach: Why? Witness: Because the law says so., Sub-Inspector Roach: What law? ' Witness: The new motor regulations, as far as I Know. As nobody would ■ say definitely whether or not the new motor regulations contained any provision to this effect, a constable was sent for a copy, but no provision was found as to which was the correct side of the bitumen for a pedestrian. Sydney Mason, father of the last witness, gave corroborative evidence. Robert Henry Farland said that the deceased had been a weekly boarder, at the Salvation Army Home, Bucl»S Street, until the middle of April. He was not addicted to. drink. He was "swagging" at the time he was hit. Dr. Bruno Sternberg said that he was called to .the scene of the accident, but found Colenso dead when he arrived. Death appeared, to have been due to a fracture at the base of the skull. It was raining and visibility was bad.