SCHOOLBOY MOTORIST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19503, 6 December 1926, Page 14

SCHOOLBOY MOTORIST.

BLIND MAN KNOCKED DOWN. DANGEROUS DRIVING CHARGE, As a result of colliding with a blind man and his escort in Broadway, Newmarket, on the evening of Sunday, October 31, a schoolboy, aged 15, was charged in the Children's Court on Saturday with driving in a manner dangerous to the public and with failing to produce his driving licence. The boy pleaded not guilty to the first charge and guilty to the second. ' . The blind man, employed at the Jubilee Institute, and his companion, said they were crossing Broadway, near the junction of Khyber Pass, when they stopped at the taxi stand in the centre of the road to allow two cars to pass. The first car passed safely, but the second swerved across the corner and struck them. Both men received abrasions, the blind man being knocked down. The driver of the car stopped quickly and said he did not see them.' A constable said the spot was extremely dark- and a dangerous crossing. A constable stood on point duty close by and a light was placed overhead to enable motorists to see him. On Sunday evenings there was no constable on point duty and the light was not lit, but a motorist should be able to see pedestrians by his headlights. The boy's father said his son had been extremely anxious to learn to drive on reaching the age of 15. It was a question whether a boy of that age possessed sufficient judgment to drive a car, but he had pestered his parents until he received permission. The magistrate, Mr. Cutten, said he did not want to enter a conviction, and would order the boy to be discharged on payment of costs, provided his father gave an undertaking that he would not be allowed to drive for six months.