RULES IN TRAFFIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20626, 26 July 1930, Page 16

RULES IN TRAFFIC.

WATCHING THE LEFT.

MOTORISTS* RESPONSIBILITY,

AN APPEAL DISMISSED

The responsibilities of motor-drivers to other traffic were raised in an appeal caso decided by the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, in the Supreme Court, yesterday. The appeal was against a decision by Mr. E. C. Cutten, S M., in which lie gave judgment for Joseph Charles Sharp (Mr. Towle), against 11. S. Canham (Mr. N'orthcroft). Canham was the driver of a motor-lorry which collided with a, bicycle, ridden by Sharp, in Broadway, Newmarket, last December, and crushed Sharp between tho lorry and a car parked bv tho kerhside.

One of the. issues in tho case was the magistrate's interpretation of the bv-law requiring traffic to keep as near as practicable to the left. Mr. Northcroft argued that when a driver was moving in toward his left there was no obligation upon liini to watch his left side.

Mr Towle emphasised th.it tho motor regulations required that vehicles should not be loaded so that the driver could not clearly see on both sides.

His Honor, in dismissing the, appeal with costs, said he held that the appellant had been negligent in two ways. Ifis vehicle was loaded in contravention of the motor vehicle regulations, and the driver's view to tho left was obscured. According to the evidence the driver did not wait until he had passed the line of parked cars before he swerved in to the kerb. His Honor did not altogether agree with the reason for the magistrate's conclusions but ho agreed that the decision was correct.