MOTORISTS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 May 1931, Page 2

MOTORISTS

REMARKS BY CHIEF JUSTICE. (By Telegraph—Per Press A ssociation) NELSON, May 1. In the course of a remark concerning motorists in general, during his summing np in a claim for damages., at the Supreme Court, to-day the Chief Justice, Sir M. Myers, said that it did not follow that if a man drove a motor car lie was a man of wealth. The ownership of a car nowadays was not an indication of the wealth of the owner. “No body of motorists,” later remarked His Honor, “had a monopoly of the road. Thank heaven they have not,” he added. “1 do not suppose that motorists as a whole, are negligent. They are not,” further remarked His Honor. “The majority of motorists that I have seen are negligent, but not all are as careful as they should be. Every motorist must drive with reasonable care. The. motorists must use ordinary care, and have due regard to tbe safety of the public, whether they are drivers of motor vehicles, pedestrians, or drivers of vehicles other than motors. Similarly, the pedestrian must be careful, and be must not go and throw himself under a motor car, ns it were, and j then turn around and say to the driver: “I am going to hold you liable for damages because you have injured me.”

“The answer to the pedestrian is “that you did not take ordinary care and arc the author of your own injury.”