NEGLIGENT DRIVING.
BY-LAW COVERS DAMAGE TO ROADWAY. AUCKLAND, May 3. The question whether a prosecution can be made under the by-law forbidding negligent driving on the ground that such driving caused damage to a road, was decided by Mr Justid MacGregor in an appeal case in the Supreme Court to-day. The appeal was against the decision of Mr F. W. Platts, S.M., at Paerw last December, when he fined George Ernest Davis, public works overseer at Arapuni, £5 Is for negligent driving. It was admitted that the defendant had ■been driving at 34 miles an hour over what was clearly a new road with a notice on it requesting motorists to proceed slowly. The legal question was whether this constituted negligence within the meaning of the by-law. For the appellant it was contended that damage only to personal rights was contemplated by the by-law, and the Paeroa Borough Council sought to show that damage to road surface was also included.
His Honor held that, having regard to the context of the by-law, it was sufficiently wide to cover the case before him. Although the car was under perfect control, it was being driven negligently because it tended to disturb the surface of the road.
The appeal was therefore dismissed.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 3869, 8 May 1928, Page 27
Word Count
209NEGLIGENT DRIVING. Otago Witness, Issue 3869, 8 May 1928, Page 27
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