The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1933. A MOTOR ANOMALY.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12429, 23 August 1933, Page 4

The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1933. A MOTOR ANOMALY.

An interesting anomaly was mentioned in the report of the President of the .North Island Motor Union at the recent annual conference. It is revealed that in accidents clearly caused by negligence, if the person causm«>- an accident and consequent injury to another party, was himself killed, the injured party has no redress. In cases quoted, the Court held that, although the deceased was negligent and caused an accident whereby, in addition to doing serious damage and injury to the third party, he also brought about his own death by his negligence, the right of the plaintiff against the deceased died with the latter. The President of the Conference said that “we have repeatedly asked the Government to remedy this anomaly. When the Third Party .Risks Act became law it wa«s felt that motorists were safe in so far as they suffered injury by reason cT the negligence of some other party on the road. It is now clear that this cover does not extend to cases where the negligent party fails to survive the accident. However, we are continuing to urge the Government to have this rectified.” The anomaly is certainly a serious one, as while the negligent author of the accident, if killed, is no longer concerned, the injury lie had caused remains, and may inflict great hardship upon the sufferers. The efforts of the Motor Union to alleviate this position are, as the President claims, entirely reasonable.