DUTIES OF PEDESTRIANS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 296, 12 November 1934, Page 6

DUTIES OF PEDESTRIANS.

In explaining the law on the subject to a jury hearing a claim for damages arising from a collision between a pedestrian and a motorist, Mr Justice Herdman, at Auckland, made some pointed observations on the duties of both sections of the public in using the highways, with particular reference to those of pedestrians. The problem of preserving life from accidents on the streets and highways _ is one of the most pressing of the daj. I

Britain and the United States the authorities have given serious concern to measures to preserve people from the folly of their own neglect to observe reasonable laws for personal safety. In our own Dominion Judges'and others in authority have spoken seriously on the subject. In the Auckland case, His Honour explained, the plaintiff, a woman, ran suddenly in front of a motor car, and the “fact that the collision occurred in a street was not sufficient alone to entitle the victim to damages, for if that were so it. would be unsafe for any man to drive a vehicle about the country.” That is a com-mon-sense principle. The law places an obligation upon a motorist to comply with certain con : ditions in driving so that he is not negligent; at the same time, as His Honour said, members of the public have a duty themselves in crossing a street. Briefly, they must walk carefully and exercise judgment’ when fast traffic is about. When the situation is all summed up it is a matter of both sides taking reasonable care to prevent accidents which are a distressing feature of modem life. In cities with narrow streets there is a tendency for people to exercise greater precautions than where the streets are wide. Nevertheless, the same obligation exists in Palmerston North, for instance, with its well planned wide thoroughfares, as m Wellington, where in most cases the streets are much narrower. Mr Justice Herdman has served the public interest in reminding pedestrians that they as well as motorists have a duty in exercising care to avoid accidents.