SEQUEL TO ACCIDENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21110, 18 February 1932, Page 12

SEQUEL TO ACCIDENT.

DRIVER OF VAN CHARGED. FINE IMPOSED ON ONE COUNT. A plea of not guilty was entered by Charles Ilugh Birch when charged bofore Mr. F. I\. Hunt. S.M., in the Police Court yesterday, with speeding and having insufficient brakes on a motor vehiclo. The case arose out of an accident in Ponsonby Road on October 5. Accused was the driver of a motor-van which knocked .down Arthur Benjamin Fitzwilliams, who died on December 2n.

Sidney Edward Ald reel said he was walking across Ponsonby Poad with Fitzwilliams when ho observed the van approaching. Witness stepped back, but Fitzwilliams, who was about 3ft. from the kerb, went forward and was struck by the van.

Constable Goebel declared that he tested the brakes of the van and found them to be inefficient. For defendant, counsel stated that the coioner at. the inquest had judged the happening to be accidental. Defendant had swerved in an attempt to avoid the two men. Fitzwilliams was carrying some wood at the time and the timber went through the windscreen of the van, showering Birch with glass and causing him to lose control of the vehicle momentarily. The brakes had been adjusted by a* mechanic just prior to the accident. A civil claim was pending against Birch. The magistrate dismissed the charge of speeding, stating that the evidence was not adequate, but fined defendant £1 for having inefficient brakes.