CLAIM FOR DAMAGES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 239, 6 September 1933, Page 12

CLAIM FOR DAMAGES

COLLISION WITH LORRY.

Claiming damages amounting tb £99 Ids as the sequel to a collision with a motor lorry allegedly left stationary on the roadside early in the evening of May 6 by defendant’s son, half a mile south of the ICahuterawa bridge, and 6* miles from Palmerston North, Andrew James Whyte, of Tokomaru (Mr W. L. Fitzherbert) took proceedings before Mr J. L. Stout, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Palmerston North, yesterday afternoon, against Edward P. Edwards, of Otaki (Mr H. R. Cooper). Plaintiff gave evidence that he left Palmerston North at 5.15 p.m. Conditions were cloudy and it had been raining. Plaintiff passed numerous cars, which were all lit up. When just past the Kahuterawa bridge lie slowed up as he saw an oncoming car, but did not see the stationary lorry until he was six or seven feet away. A collision occurred and the front of his car ran right underneath the back of the lorry, which was unlighted. The accident occurred at about 5.35 p.m. Night was closing in fast and the visibility was very bad at that time.

Cross-examined, plaintiff said he was 65 years of age, had good eyesight and had been driving for 17 years. His lights would show up objects 250 yards away. Corroborative evidence was given by Ada Harriet Whyte, the wife of plaintiff. She stated that the lorry was unlighted, and could not be seen in the darkness. John Norman Jordan stated in evidence that on May' 6 he left Shannon at 5 p.m. The night was overcast and it was 15J miles to the scene of the accident, a journey which occupied about 40 minutes. Witness saw Mr Whyte’s car approaching and was almost abreast of it when it collided with the lorry. Witness lit up his car three miles before he reached the scene of the accident. His lights had shone into the glass of the lorry as he was approaching and he saw it. It was dark at the time, and he had to use a torch when he got out of the car.

Similar evidence was given by Maxwell Jordan, a son of the previous witness, and by Charles Stevens, passengers in his car, both of -whom said they were certain of the time when they left Shannon. Edward William Pasley, motor mechanic, of Palmerston North, said Mr Jordan arrived at 6.10 p.m. with a message for a break-down truck to be despatched. Evidence was given by Harold B. Clapham, garage proprietor, that the cost of repairs to plaintiff’s car had been over £7B. The bodywork of the car took most of the impact. Witness estimated the car’s speed at between 20 and 30 miles an hour. Had it been at a greater rate part of the bodywork would have been torn away. Counsel for defendant said it -was perfectly, clear from plaintiff’s own story that his negligence caused the collision. His lights would show for 250 yards, yet he never saw the lorry. The facts were not disputed, but the time was. Plaintiff’s only possible explanation could be that he was blinded by the other car’s light. Had the lorry been damaged it would have been very difficult for Mr Whyte to avoid paying damages. What would his excuse have been if he had struck a pedestrian instead of a lorry? Sydney Arthur Edwards, giving evidence for the defence, said he had been driving the lorry from Taihape for his father. He pulled up on the correct side with tire near wheels on the grass. The lorry was seven feet wide and witness thought that the metalled width of the road was 23 feet. It was "between lights” when the collision occurred and witness could see tbs lorry when some 100 or 150 yards away. He had not lighted it up, as he did not consider that it was sufficiently dark to warrant that. Cross-examined, witness said he only left his lorry five or six minutes while he went inside Mr James’s place. He had passed unlighted cars before he stopped. Witness put on his lights shortly after the accident. He was only in Mr James’s place a minute or two when the collision occurred.

Noel Charles James said the previous witness had been with him only five minutes when the crash was heard outside. He could not remember making a subsequent statement to the witness Pasley that the lorry driver was in the wrong and did not have his lights on, but he would not deny saying it. Charles James gave evidence that he was in the cowshed when informed of the crash. He attended to the machine for a minute or two, switched it off and went into the house, where he observed that the time was 5.20 p.m. AUsibility on the road outside was not too gqod, as it was a dark evening. / Cross-examined witness -said the clock was set according to whistles heard, or the passing of trains or buses.

The Magistrate reserved his decision stating that he would have to look into the question of contributory negligence.