KEEP TO THE LEFT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17957, 8 December 1932, Page 6

KEEP TO THE LEFT

MAGISTRATE’S WARNING USE OP CONCRETE STRIP A warning to motor-cyclists and motorists regarding the necessity _of strict observance of the by-law requiring traffic to keep to the left-hand side of the street was given by Mr. P. H. Harper, S.M., in the Police Court this morning. The warning was directed more particularly to drivers using the concrete strip down Gladstone road from Grey street to the Post Office, which, Mr. Harper remarked, appeared to act as a magnet to all traffic. The magistrate’s remarks were prompted by a case in which the rider of a motor-cycle delivery combination, Clias. Palmer, pleaded not guilty to a charge of failing to keep as near as practicable to the left-hand side of Gladstone road. Mr. H. D. Chi'isp, who prosecuted on behalf of the borough traffic inspector, air. Charles Ferris, explained that the defendant was riding down the middle of Gladstone road, and refused to give vay to a motorist who wished to pass him. The motorist repeatedly sounded his horn, but the defendant clung to the middle of the road, so that the car mold not pass without infringing the by-law. Once when the motorist drew up alongside the motor-cycle in an attempt to pass the defendant accelerated, arid then slowed down again, deliberately obstructing the car. The defendant was eating a banana, and as he turned into Lowe street be tossed tiro skin over bis shoulder. Counsel submitted that it was a deliberate breach of the bylaw, and added that when a citizen came forward to lay an information the court must appreciate that it was an attempt on the part of the defendant to fool the traffic.

Mr. T). W. Dos, for the defendant, explained that tho charge arose through a misapprehension, as the defendant had :io knowledge that the ear was behind him, and that the driver wished to pass. Counsel also attacked the by-law as unreasonable, and submitted that the concrete strip had been laid down at considerable expense for the use of traffic. After hearing the evidence, tho magistrate said that he had no reason to doubt the evidence of the motorist, the mly difference 'between it and that of the defendant being that the latter said he was farther over to the left-hand side. A reasonable interpretation of the bylaw, he 'continued, was that the traffic must keep as near as practicable to the left-hand side of the street, having regard to the nature of the traffic at tho time. It was not an offence to travel on the concrete strip so long as traffic at. the time permitted it. “ACTS AS> A MAGNET" "1 am satisfied,” continued Mr. Harper, “that the concrete strip acts as a magnet to all traffic, both motor and cycle ; once traffic gets on to it, it seems -u have great difficulty in leaving it. It is the duty of everyone to keep a sti iet look-out for traffic coming from the, rear, and in the ease of a motorcycle, which is not required to carry a rear-view mirror, it is the duty of tlm rider to keep a constant look-out. I will accept the defendant’s explanation that he was unaware that the car wished to pass, but that does not absolve him from the duty of keeping a look-out, ami I must hold that lie committed a breach of the by-law. “No doubt the public are unaware of the provisions of this by-law,” added the magistrate, ’‘and I trust that this case will act as a warning, and that traffic will keep a strict look-out. N'o ono likes to come forward and lay an inlormntion, and the motorist in this case is to be commended for his action. Tl is is a very dangerous practice, and might lead to a serious accident.” As the case had been brought as a warning, t|ie magistrate said he would not impose a heavy penalty, and the defendant was convicted and ordered to pay costs, £i Os 6d.