Excessive Speed on Motorcycles

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6074, 9 July 1947, Page 5

Excessive Speed on Motorcycles

OFFENCES IN HEAVY TRAFFIC KARAPIRO HIGHWAY INCIDENTS "I had to pass 78 motor vehicles in an attempt to overtake the defendants," said Inspector C. I. Fletcher in the Cambridge Court yesterday when charging two motorcyclists, John Walter Stanley Paul and John Milton Scurrah with exceeding the 40mile an hour speed limit on the Karapiro main highway. The inspector said that he observed the motorcyclists approaching at a fast pace. There was a continuous line of traffic and defendants were cutting in and out of the -vehicles. After waiting at a turn-off, he proceeded after them and estimated that Paul's speed was 55 miles an hour. Scurrah accellerated to 68 miles an hour to pass three cars at once. There were three cars coming from the opposite direction at the time. Scurrah said he did not hear the inspector's siren because of the noise of his machine, which had lost its silencer. Defendants admitted they were in a hurry to return to Auckland before sundown.

For speeding, the Magistrate, Mr S. L. Paterson, S.M., fined Paul £2 10s. and Scurrah £3. The latter was also fined £1 for not having an effective silencer fitted to his machine. Costs were 10s. on each charge.

Alfred Douglas Chapman was fined £2, with costs 10s. for exceeding 30 miles an hour in a heavy motor vehicle at Pukeroro. Inspector Fletcher said he checked defendant's speed at 45 to 46 miles an "hour for a mile.