DRIVER EXONERATED

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12251, 24 September 1925, Page 4

DRIVER EXONERATED

. HUTT MOTOR FATALITY DANGER OF BRIGHT HEADLIGHTS MAGISTRATE’S COMMENTS “No blame is attachable to the driver of the car,’’ said the coroner, Mr W. G. Riddell, S,M., at the conclusion of an inquiry into the death of Arthur Armstrong, who was knocked down by a motor-car driven by George James Weymouth Cooper in the vicinity of the Lower Hutt station on Sunday night, September 13th. Sergeant E. J. McKelvey appeared for the police Mr H. F. O’Leary for Cooper, and Mr G. Pindlay for the relatives of the deceased. Louisa Fake, a widow, said that she was walking along the road with the deceased and Edith Hepple, who was injured and still in hospital. The deceased was walking on the outside while witness was the nearest to the footpath. They were off the bitumen track. She did not see the car approaching. Edith May Hepple said that she saw the car coming, but had not warned the others as she thought they knew. The lights of the car were dimmed, and she considered it was travelling over 15 miles per hour. Sergeant McKelvey: What first attracted your attention to the accident?

JVitness: I was alarmed to hear a dreadful noise behind us. The driver seemed to lose control of the car, which swung round.

Mr Findlay: Was there any horn sounded ? Witness: No. Frederick George Kindmarsh Bolton, a farmer, said that at the time of the accident he was driving along on his left side in the opposite direction to Cooper. He had dimmed his lights for a few seconds, but had switched them on full again as there was a cyclist in front whom he was unable to see otherwise. Sergeant McKelvey: You consider that it is a dangerous practioe to dim lights ? Witness: I shall never dim mine again. Mr O’Leary: Have you ever been blinded by lights? Witness: Whenever I see bright lights coming I look straight down on to the road. Would Cooper he running before your bright lights for between 50 to 100 yards?—Yes. DRIVER’S VERSION In the box Cooper' said that just prior to the accident he had dimmed bis lights, had signalled by switching them strong and then low to a car approaching with its lights full on and very bright. He did not see any pedestrians. Sergeant McKelvey: What was the first intimation you had ? Witness: A bump. What part of the road were you on? —ln my fixed opinion I was off the bitumen. I pulled up suddenly when I felt the bump, ana the car iwervel owing to the road being greasy through the rain which was falling at the time. I pulled up in 18 feet. Were you in any way affected by the bright lights?—Most decidedly. I was almost blinded by them.. The' Magistrate: As soon as you were affected by them did you reduce your speed? Witness: Yes. Sergeant McKelvey: Did you sonnff your Lorn at the railway corner ? Witness: I could not say. The How long have you been driving? Witness: Eleven years. Mr O’Leary: How did the lights of the approaching car compare witn tlic.se of rile average carp Witness: They were infinitely brighter. > Samuel Potter, who was a passenger in tho previous witness’s car, gave evidence along the same lines. The magistrate said that Cooper had evidently driven at a reasonable rate of speed ; and had knocked down the deceased in circumstances that had prevented him from seeing the deceased. The accident was an unfortunate one, but showed that motorists should dim their lights if they affected the. vision of a driver approaching. A verdict of accidental death was returned.