WOMAN CYCLIST IN COURT

Taranaki Daily News, 15 December 1932, Page 8

WOMAN CYCLIST IN COURT

FINED FOR NEGLIGENT DRIVING, PEDESTRIANS KNOCKED DOWN. A young woman motor-cyclist was fined £2 by Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., in the Hawera Court yesterday on a charge of negligent driving. The information was a sequel to an accident on.Waihi Road on September 25, when Mrs. H. G. A. Allen was injured. Mr. Sainton requested that the name of defendant and her pillion rider be not published for reasons given by counsel (Mr. A. Chrystal). Sergeant Henry conducted the police case. The sergeant- said four people were walking along Waihi Road toward Hawera in the dark about 8.15 p.m. They would say that they were on the correct side of the road, two of them off the bitumen. Defendant was riding a motorcycle of light horse-power with an acetylene lamp. An impact occurred and Mrs. Allen was injured. H. G. A. Allen, husband of the woman Injured, said a Mr. and Mrs. Wright were with them. They were on the left-hand side of the road, walking abreast. Mrs. Wright was next to the hedge, then Wright, then Mrs. Allen, and then witness. Allen was on the tar, as was his wife. He could not say how far he was from the edge, but he was near it. He heard a motor-cycle coming behind him, and they moved to the left. The cycle had a-very dim light. He was knocked over. When he. rose Wright was picking up Mrs. Allen. The cycle was travelling at about 20 to 25 m.p.h. He did riot think the light, which was just a flicker, showed the rider the people walking. Mrs. Allen remained ■ unconscious for some hours. The' number of the cycle was 5341 and defendant was the rider. Wright was also struck' by . the cycle. Witness had no, conversation with the rider after the accident. Allen did' not remember whether the night was stormy before the accident. The grass grew to the edge of the road. There was mist about, he thought. The cycle seemed to- hit Mrs. Allen first, witness next, and then Wright. When he recovered consciousness he was lying on the road, as was his wife. . James Wright, said he was walking on the shingle and his wife on,the grass. Mrs. Allen was just on the asphalt. He did not hear the cycle at all, but Allen told them to move over. Allen was knocked on to the middle of the road, or perhaps a little to the right of it. Mrs. Allen fell between the side and the middle of the road. There was practically -no conversation with the rider of the cycle. Witness did not think the light he saw after the accident was sufficient, and thought that accounted for the accident. The grass ,at . the side of the road was not wet The cycle was not travelling at any speed, and went on a few feet after the accident. He thought the manner of the impact would account for Allen and his, wife being found near the middle, of the road. The lamp was of the usual type. The cycle would not have been picked up on the right-hand side of the road. He denied that the party- was walking on the bitumen. Counsel said the point the defence made was that it was a rough night. There, was no suggestion of any negligence except that the rider struck Allen and his, wife. He contended that W right could not have been struck unless the cyclist was right off the road. The rider and her pillion rider would say that they were travelling reasonably. The lamp would .throw a beam of 90 feet in ordinary conditions. The rider saw the pedestriaris walking in the middle of the road about 15 to 20 feet from her. She put on her brakes and swerved to the 1 right, -but unfortunately struck the pedestrians. She' was: not charged with having an insufficient light. In the evidence there was no suggestion of negligence. Wright made no attempt-to test the light, nor was he an authority. Defendant in evidence said it was a misty arid ■ dark night. Her cycle was just to the left of the middle of the road. She thought all four pedestrians were on the bitumen, but the one on the left might not have been. The one on the right was in the middle of the road. She braked and swerved to the . right. Mrs. Allen was in the middle of the road, or perhaps to the right-hand slue. The lamp, tested by Constable Hughes, Stratford, complied with the regulations. The poor visibility and the presence of the pedestrians too far over ■on the road were the causes of the accident.

To Sergeant Henry, defendant said she was about 30 feet from the people when she first saw them. The rain afterwards might account for no skid-marks being seen. The pillion rider had not done anything to cause the accident. When she. first saw the party some were towards her right. In her opinion, Allen was wrong .when he said he was near the edge of, the road. It was a fortnight after the .accident that her lamp was tested. Mr. Salmon said it impressed him that at the ' speed the. cycle was ■ travellmg the rider could have stopped within the distance she indicated.

The woman pillion rider said the pedestrian on the extreme right was in the middle of the road. The rider applied the brakes but witness did not think she swerved. The cycle had almost stopped when the impact occurred. To Sergeant Henry witness said the light was good. - The rule of the road where there was no footpath in England was that pedestrians should keep to the right, said Mr. Salmon. -Unfortunately, that was not the rule in-New Zealand.» The case resembled Cooper v. Symes, in which the Chief Justice held it the duty of the motorist to be able to see and to avoid the pedestrians he was overtaking. Mr.. Salmon found that the cyclist was riding with a defective light and might very well have: been charged with that. Her own evidence showed, the rider had time to stop.

GENERAL ITEMS. The car removed on Monday night from Mr. L. F. Bell’s shed, Mokoia, was found in a gully at the Fraser Road end of the Ngawhini Gorge. In gear and with the. ignition switched on, the car apparently was allowed to run down the hillside, capsizing at the foot but sustaining little damage.

MARIE DRESSLER IN “EMMA.”

HAWERA SEASON TO-MORROW

Marie Dressier as “Emma” will be seen at to-morrow’s matinee and evening screenings at the Grand Theatre, Hawera, and on Saturday at the Opera House at 2 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9.30 p.m., and finally on Monday at. 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. A critic says: “Marie Dressier as ‘Emma’ is simply wonderful. Surely no other, actress has the gift of making one cry one minute and laugh uproariously the next! Tlie story of the picture is not the usual hackneyed theme of the eternal triangle, but is the story of the life of a family ranging over a period of 18 years or so. The father (Jean Hersholt), after years of work .succeeds in an invention, thereby becoming a millionaire. The family, with the exception of Emma’s favourite, Ronnie (Richard Cromwell), become a money-loving, grasping young lot, who are not above sacrificing the faithful servant’s life in their desire for wealth. Ronnie’s supreme sacrifice, Emma's acquittal of a murder charge, and the sincere repentance- of the young people, form a fitting, climax to a powerful story.” Box plans are at Miss Blake’s.