FORD VERSUS BUICK.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XV, Issue 111, 10 August 1925, Page 5

FORD VERSUS BUICK.

COLLISION ON CLIVE BRIDGE. NEGLIGENT DRIVING PROVED. Miss Susan Smith (Mr. John Mason) a nurse, of Napier, pleaded not guilty 1 to driving in a negligent manner on June 20th. at Clive. Mrs. Palmer, of Maraekakaho. said that on June 20th she was driving a Buick car from Napier and when she got on to the Clive bridge she was driving very carefully on her correct side. She saw a Ford car approaching. This car collided with her and did sonic damage and then struck a boy on a bicycle. George Henry Hellyer, labourer, of Clive, said that Mrs. Palmer was travelling slowly as far over as possible on her left side, and there was plenty of room for a car to pass, but the driver of the other car seemed to lose her head. Frank William Long said that he was riding on the bridge towards Clive at the time of the collision. He had just come on to the bridge and did not see the actual collision. He rode up to the cars and pulled to his wrong side and rested against the side of tho bridge. When the Ford disentangled itself from tho Buick it backed off and struck his bicycle, bending the frame. Constable Murray, of Clive, also gave evidence. Mr. Mason, for the defence, submitted that no negligence had been proved. He contended that Mrs. Palmer could have stopped her car, which had powerful brakes, within its own length if she was travelling at a speed about 10 to 15 miles per hour as she stated, and could have* avoided tho accident. Defendant ,in the box, said that she had been driving since 1918. Her only previous accident was when a bursting tyre- threw her car over a bank at Puketapu, her leg being broken. 0n the occasion of inc collision in question she was approaching the bridge well over to her left and she had to swing over to the right to get on to the bridge and before she could pull over to her left she came into collision with the other car. She considered that the Buick was travelling at a fast speed and she told Mrs. Palmer so. It was most unfortunate that she struck the boy on the bicycle when she backed off. This was duo to damage underneath the car, which she was unaware of at the time. She could think of nothing she could have done to avoid the accident. Grace IJliau Hudson, of Napier, said that she was sitting beside Mi.-s Smith on the occasion in question. Miss Smith did everything possible to avoid the accident. She thought Mrs. Palmer was travelling too lasi, bye remembered Miss Smith telling her so. John Elias Reach, Ford dealer, of Napier, said that he knew Miss Smith as a careful and skilful driver. He described the damage to the Ford, which included damage to tho steering geaJ. His Worship said that the charge was one of negligent driving, which did not imply that Miss Smith was travelling at an excessive speed. While it could be admitted that she was driving at a moderate pace, he considered that she could have avoided the accident and was guilty of negligence. There was no evidence in support of Miss Smith’s suggestion that Mrs. Palmar was driving too fast. He inflicted a fine of £2 with £3 4/3 costs.