CRASH THROUGH BRIDGE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19806, 23 May 1934, Page 10

CRASH THROUGH BRIDGE

NEGLIGENT DRIVING CHARGE

A VERDICT OF NOT GUILTY By Telegraph—Pres Association NEW PLYMOUTH, May 22. Eric James Baxter, a sawmiller of Waekanae, was acquitted by the jury today on a charge of negligent driving so as to cause death. The charge arose from a smash at Lepperton in December when a car driven by Baxter crashed through the side of the railway overhead bridge on to the line, and Patrick Newton, an employee of Baxter, received fatal injuries. The jury added a rider that the bridge was dangerous, a fact which should be brought to the notice of the authorities. His Honour the Chief Justice advised Baxter to refrain in future from drinking when driving. “It may well be thought,” he added, “that a man who when driving a car takes in the space of a little more than three hours nine alcoholic drinks is not a fit and proper person to be entrusted with a driver’s license.” He added that whatever a driver’s conduct, the Court had no jurisdiction to deal with his license unless there had been a conviction for certain offences under the Motor Vehicles Act.