SPEEDING AT BEACH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20518, 20 March 1930, Page 15

SPEEDING AT BEACH.

(FOUR COURT PROSECUTIONS.

COMMENT ON PUBLIC NOTICE.

AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION SIGN

That a notice erected by .the Auckland [Automobile Association, reading "Children on the Beach; Speed Carefully," constituted an invitation to motorists (o speed along the beach was the contention of Mr. Baxter, who appeared for throe young men who were charged in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, by tl, c Waitemata County Council's • inspector, with speeding at Orewa on 2. All the defendants, H. S. Harrison. S. S. Scott, and W. M. Hutchinson, pleaded guilty. A fourth defendant, A. Collins, for whom Mr. Bryce Hart appeared,' also pleaded guilty. Mr. Baxter said the beach was about two miles long and nearly half a rtrile ..wide. "It would be perfect to speed on," commented the magistrate, Mr. W. R, JleKean. Mr. Baxter said the Auckland Automobile Association had erected a notice at the end of the beach reading "Children on the Beach; Speed Carefully." Although the notice was not erected by a local body it was looked on as authoritative by motorists and would be accepted as an invitation to speed. The notice had been erected after the county engineer, Mr. A. Murray, had been consulted. Mr. Murray and the touring manager of the association, Mr. R. Champtaloup, hod decided on this form of notice, considering the beach at the time as a main highway, and not as a place where motorists would drive fast up and down, a:> was being done at present.

"My personal opinion is that the notice is an invitation to people to speed as fast.as they like as long as they exercise care," said Mr. Baxter. "That was not the idea in the minds of Mr. Champtaloup and Mr. Murray, and I understand that the wording of the notice will now be cht.nged." Mr. D. Taylor, inspector to the County Council, said' that as the result of complaints regarding speeding he went to Grew a on February 2. Ho was at the ''far end of the beach, where there were from 150 to 200 people. This was the most dangerous part,, but if he had gone to the middle of the beach he could have caught motorists travelling at a far greater speed. For Collins, Mr. Hart said that he was a member of the Takapuna Surf Club and was with a party who went out to practice life-saving. They were in Collins' truck and part of their work was to get from one part of the beach to the other ns quickly as possible with their reel and apparatus. - "This case will act as a warning to motorists," said the magistrate. "It might''perhaps be as well if the Automobile Association changed the notice, as there is a suggestion that the beach can be used for speeding and many motorists do not need any suggestion." He convicted Collins without penalty and ordered the. other three defendants to pay 10s costs each.