SILENT ZONE TRAGEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

SILENT ZONE TRAGEDY

LORRY-DRIVER CENSURED

Should a motorist sound his hooter in the course of the night-silence period in order to avoid an accident/ Ihis question was raised at an inquest at Deptford in connection with what was said to be the first fatal accident since the new silence regulations came into force. , ~ , The victim was a motor-cyclist, Josef Franz Strobl, aged 44, of Rotherhithe. Evidence was given that when an approaching lorry moved from the offside to the crown of the road Strobl swerved and ran on to the pavement. The lorrv-driver, George Robert Smythe, said he did not sound his horn as it was before 7 a.m., and a motorist «,*as not allowed to sound a hooter then. The foreman of the jury expressed the view that as the lorrydriver wax moving from the offside of the road he should have sounded the horn. A verdict of " Accidental death was returned, and at the jury's request the coroner, Dr. Whitehouse, censured Smythe. " This accident." he said, " should show you that you are not an efficient driver. You have a good deal to learn about driving. You gave no warning that you were pulling across the road. You would do better to give up driving motor-lorries and find some other occupation."