CAR COLLIDES TWICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20760, 31 December 1930, Page 12

CAR COLLIDES TWICE.

AN UNUSUAL ACCIDENT.

MAGICIAN AND CONSTABLE.

Considerable amusement was occasioned at the. Auckland railway station on the arrival of the Wellington delegates to the convention of the New Zealand Society of Magicians, now being held in Auckland, by the destructive behaviour of a motor-car driven by one of the magicians. It first collided with another car while turning into' tho ramp from Beach Road, and five minutes later, while its brakes were being tested by a police constable, it crashed into a second car, inflicting far from illusionary damage on both. Both magician and constable were unaccustomed to the particular arrangement of tho enr's foot-brake and accelerator pedal, mistaking the one for the other. Tho car had been borrowed from a relative, the driver's own car having unexpectedly developed a punctured tyre, and instead of applying the brakes tho accelerator was depressed instead. Tho car shot forward into the rear of a big limousine, crumpling tho bodywork and buckling tho mudguards. While the damage was being examined the constable arrived on the scene demanding to know whether tho brakes were in order. He expressed a desire to test them j himself and, stepping into the driver's seat, took the car for a short trral spin, lie had only proceeded a few yards when a car of tho baby variety stopped in front. The policeman jammed hard on what lie imagined was tho foot-brake, but pressed tho accelerator violently instead. The car put on a sudden rush of speed and collided for the second time, the small car sustaining a certain amount of damage. The dual accident.occurred at 6.30 a.m., just before the arrival of the first Wellington express, and a small crowd of taxidrivers and early pedestrians were amused witnesses of the ill-starred trial spin. A wordy argument aroso as. to who should carry" responsibility for the damage, the magician or the policeman, but the problem was left undetermined, the majority of the bystanders maintaining that the constable.'being engaged on His Majesty's lawful business, was immune from liability.

By some magical stroke of fortune the belligerent car escaped from the romliat with hardly a scratch. The accelerator pedal and foot-brake are very close together, requiring intimate acquaintance to operate individually. In its owner's hands no difficulty had beer, experienced.