Duty of Motorists Respecting Cattle

Northern Advocate, 31 January 1940, Page 2

Duty of Motorists Respecting Cattle

Motorists driving in country districts need, to take care, as meeting with cattle is always possible. Commenting on the need for care, the magistrate (Mr. Ferner) stated in the Whangarei Court this morning that stock-driving in a pastoral community was a normal avocation and motorists must always expect to meet cattle. William Donald Roy Hoey (Mr. E. A. Harrison) pleaded hot guilty to a charge of having negligently driven a motor car at Otaika.

While driving to Portland Hoey had met a mob of cattle and had proceeded half way through when he had collided with a cow and had then hit a heifer which had gone under the car and subsequently had to be destroyed, said Senior-Sergeant C. Harley, who prosecuted. Testing of Brakes. Hoey had told him he had not seen the cattle until he had rounded a bend and had not had time to stop, said Constable C. Snow in evidence. He had tested the car, a 1923 model, at 15 miles per hour and had found the fodtbrake totally ineffective, while Ihe hand-brake had pulled up the car in 19 yards. Simultaneous application of the brakes had pulled up the car in 11 yards. To Mr. Harrison the constable said the car was not tested on a simila: surface to that on which the accident occurred.

Hoey had told him the foot and hand brakes worked in conjunction. The: drover of the. cattle, Thomas Henry Edmonds, said that Hoey’s car had Come round ihe bend and when an cut half way through tic- mob had started to zig zag as if he were trying to apply the brakes. He seemd to be going too fast to pull up. Ileifer Under Car A heifer had gone under the car which had had to be hacked to release it. Both hips of the heifer had been broken and it had to be destroyed. The leading cattle were round the bend when Hoey drove through the mob.

The corner was a bad one. Edmonds told Mr Harrison.

He could not prevent cattle from moving over the road.. Edmonds denied that while he was talking to Hoey the whole of the cattle, including the injured beast, n;,:l moved on round the corner.

Re-examined by Senior-Sergeant Harley, Edmonds said the car had collided with the he fer. The heifer had not run under the car. Beast Not Under Car Hoey gave evidence that he had not seen the cattle until he was round ihe bend, and they were well scattered over the road, After he passed the first portion of the cattle, a heifer had jumped in front of the car and had cannoned off against a concrete post. It had not gone under the car, which 'was practically stationary at the time of impact. While talking to Edmonds the cattle, including the injured heifer which only appeared to have been bruised, had moved on around the bend. Regarding the braking system on his car, the foot and hand brakes worked together. Magistrate’s Comment The magistrate: That’s nonsense. I’m familiar with the type of car and the braking system. The brakes can be acuated by applying the foot and it is not necessary to apply both brakes together. Senior-Sergeant Harley: If you knew it was a bad bend you should have gone around carefully. Hoey: I think it is a fair driving speed. The magistrate: If you can stop! Further questioned by the SeniorSergeant, Hoey said only one beast had been hit and that in the way lie had described.

The heifer had not gone under Die car.

Senior-Sergeant Harley: How do I you account for hair being on the road, j ~ Hoey: Hair will drop off cattle anywhere.

Senior-Sergeant Harley: It may have been human hair. Maybe there was a free fight there. Hoey: Where there is an accident things happen. Senior-Sergeant Harley: Yes, complications set in. Prosecution Proper

Hoey said he did not think there was need to stop when he met the cattle.

Mr Harrison submitted that a case of negligence had not been proved. It was more like an inevitable accident.

A speed of 20 miles per hour on the bend had been admitted, said the magistrate. That was too fast if the driver could not slop and it was definitely an obligation on motorists to drive with care, as the vagaries of cattle were well known and must bo guarded against.

'■The prosecution has been properly brought, and Hoey must be convicted, he added, in fining Hoey £5 with costs 13/-. and witnesses’ expenses. “A note recording the conviction will be endorsed on his driver’s license. ’’