MAD OVER-SPEEDING

Evening Star, Issue 16988, 10 March 1919, Page 7

MAD OVER-SPEEDING

A CORONER’S WARNING. An inquest was held by Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., at Hawera the other day into the circumstances of the death of Mr Frederick Gustave Bremer, who was killed through being pinned under a motor car which overturned. After hearing the evidence tho coroner said that once again he bad to record tho death of a motorist due to over-speeding in motor driving. The toll of the read with motor cars was a particularly heavy one where there was any reckless driving. It was an exceedingly difficult problem to know how to regulate motor traffic on good country roads. It might bo possible for the different local bodies to fix a speed limit, but there was the difficulty of enforcing it. It was difficult to account for the accident in the present case, except for the obvious reason that tho car was travelling too quickly to be under complete control. He must sound a note of warning to motorists that Nemesis would not always be kind to the driver. One of these days the driver would escape ahd a passenger would get killed, and tho driver might then find himself called upon to face manslaughter proceedings. The verdict would be in accordance with tho doctor’s testimony—that the deceased died from shook through injuries received in a motor-car accident. The coroner added that he would not add any rider. He thought, however, that the Automobile Association should bring pressure upon their members to cease this mad over-speeding which appeared to be the tendency nowadays. Motor cars, with tho present' up-to-date appliances, _could_ bo kept under perfect control if driven in a reasonable manner. When driving at a high speed a slight variation of the surface of the road, or a slight variation in the course of the road, would often result in an, accident.