Intoxicated Driver Doubly Punished

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 644, 22 April 1929, Page 1

Intoxicated Driver Doubly Punished

FINED £25 LICENCE CANCELLED ••He was zig-zagging across the road and we turned on to the grass to avoid him. He still came on and pulled over right in front of us.” So a witness described the episode that resulted in William Keefe being fined £25 at the Police Court this morning for being intoxicated in charge of a car. Accused's driving licence was cancelled for a year. an engineer, aged 39. pleaded not guilty to being found intoxicated in charge of a car in the New North Road on Saturday. He was represented by Mr. W. J. Gatenby. Oliver Alexander Fraser, who had summoned the police to the scene, described the accident, which he was convinced had happened through accused’s inability to drive properly. “I was driving along the New North Road toward Avondale with my mother,” he said. ‘‘l noticed another car coming our way, and, as the driving seemed to be rather erratic, I pulled right over to give him plenty of room. When only a few feet away from me he pulled right across and we collided. The damage to my car was considerable, and repairs would cost about £30.” Witness said that he had gone to take the name of a lorry-driver who was foliowring close behind, and afterwards went for the police. When he left the scene of the accident, Keefe was still sitting in his car. Hater the man had started to argue with witness’s mother. He told her that witness must have been driving on the wrong side of the road, but eventually offered to pay half the damages. “I think he was under the influence of liquor,” concluded Mr. Fraser. In the opinion of Hannah Fraser, mother of the previous witness, Keefe was certainly not fit to be in charge of a car. Witness had accused him of being drunk, but at the time he had denied having anything. “He offered £5 to square the damage, and actually said that lie had crossed over to avoid us,” declared Mrs. Fraser, indignantly. Three more witnesses, including the constable that had taken him to tlio station, gave It as their opinion that Keefe was under the influence of liquor and unfit to be in charge of a car. The constable said that Keefe was lurching and almost falling on the way to the station. He had asked for a doctor, but had sobered up before lie arrived. The doctor had said that the man was all right at the time of the examination, but that it was quite possible he had been' intoxicated when the collision took place. On Sunday, Keefe, who had been released on bail, had called at the station to announce that he had dis covered the steering-gear of his car I to be at fault. A BROKEN BOLT Mr. Gatenby based his defence on i the inefficiency of the steering-gear, j and blamed its sudden failure for j Keefe’s action in turning across the track of another car. Counsel called Clarence Jones, who said that he had warned Keefe of the possibility of his steering going wrong when he hail examined it some weeks before. It was quite likely that the bad road had caused the king pin to break, with the result that the car would get out of control. The broken bolt was produced, but Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., considered that the break was far more likely to have been caused by the collision. “The question I have to decide,” said he, “is whether the man was drunk or not, and I am convinced that he was. Mr. Gatenby then asked for leave to say something in mitigation, and j reminded the Court of the punishment the man would receive apart from any penalty the Court might im- | pose. He was continuing when the magistrate interrupted him: “He is u married man with two children. He has a job, and this is his first offence,” he said. “That is all you can say.” Counsel asked for time to pay, and Mr. Hunt gave him seven days, remarking that he could sell the car to find the money. Counsel: He will have to walk in from Blockhouse Bay every morning. Mr. Hunt: Let him walk. We want his sort off the roads. Default was fixed at two months. ZIG-Z EGGING COSTS £2O (Frost Our Own Correspondent) WHAXGAREI, To-day. Kgi- being intoxicated while in j charge of a motor-car, a fine of ; imposed upon Frederick Charles J Cyril Robinson by Mr. J. H. Luxford. | S.M.. at the Whangarei Magistrate's i Court this morning. Robinson was noticed zig-zagging I h/ 4 * ear from side to side up Cameron Street on Saturday afternoon. Tim traffic was dense with people and cars coming from the races. Robinson pleaded guilty. In addition to a fine, his licence was cancelled for 12 months.