SPEEDING MOTORS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16714, 21 April 1922, Page 7

SPEEDING MOTORS.

ESTIMATING PAGE. TRAINING OF POLICE OFFICERS. “I think that officers whoso duty it is to detect breaches of by-laws in regard to speeding should receive some intelligent training as to how to estimate speed of vehicles,” observed Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., at the Magistrate’s Court this morning during the hearing of a case of alleged speeding. Defendant in the case, G. B. Read, was charged with exceeding the speed limit of sixteen miles an hour in the Sumner Borough. When asked if he had anything to say defendant said he would like to know the strength of the evidence against him. Constable W. J. Hampton, of Sumner; in the witness box. said he had estimated the speed of defendant to be thirty miles an hour. He had kept the vehicle in view for about four chains. Defendant had been going about three times the speed of the tram carThe Magistrate asked how witness had known the speed was thirty miles an hour. Witness: I have been on the road a long time. The Magistrate: Well, how did you know defendant’s speed? Witness: By the tramcar. And what speed was the tramcar going?—About tlie average. The Magistrate was not satisfied with this, saying that the average rate might be ten, eight or six miles an hour. “ There should be some intelligent computation of the rate of speed,” he continued. This was one of those cases of alleged speeding where there was contradictory evidence as to the rate of speed. The witness, he said, seemed to estimate the speed by guess work. Of course he may have been on the road a long time; so had many grey-headed people. But there was a way to estimate speeds, and in that way officers might be trained so ns to give a reliable estimate. They could he taught to time a rider’s, or driver’s between two given points. A man with a little practice could count 10 seconds with the regularity and correctness of the hand of a watch. However. the Magistrate thought that defendant in tins case was doing more finn the limit, and imposed a fine of 20s and costs.