NOT NEGLIGENT

Taranaki Daily News, 17 August 1935, Page 17 (Supplement)

NOT NEGLIGENT

BUS AND MOTOR-CYCLE COLLIDE. INGLEWOOD CLAIM FAILS. Commenting that the collision was a pure accident, Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., in a reserved decision in the Inglewood Magistrate’s Court yesterday, gave judgment for the defendant, J. S. Fletcher, in a claim for damages brought by Henry Phillip Askew. The hearing was at the June sitting of the court, when Askew (Mr. C. Deem), alleging negligence, claimed £44 8s 7d for injuries received when the motor-cycle he was riding collided with a bus driven by Fletcher (Mr. F. S. Grayling) on the top of the Tarata spur. Costs were left for counsel’s arrangement. Mr. Woodward said the collision occurred at a comer on a 12ft. wide roadway when Askew collided with the back of Fletclier’s vehicle. It was alleged that Fletcher’s bus had been over the middle of the road. Fletcher, in defence, had said he had kept away from a two-foot bank of shingle on the outside of the road, having nearly lost his bus on one occasion when trying to proceed through it. It was also said that in pulling over to make room for Askew to pass the back of the lorry had not been withdrawn quickly enough. “I do not think Fletcher’s position on the road is evidence of negligence,” said Mr. Woodward. “The bus, on a full lock, takes 45 feet to negotiate a right angle turn and 53 to negotiate a somewhat more acute angle. It was just in a few yards that the accident occurred. .