TRAFFIC BREACHES

Waipa Post, Volume 51, Issue 3645, 19 July 1935, Page 7

TRAFFIC BREACHES

COURT PROSECUTIONS.

MAGISTRATE’S CAUSTIC COMMENT.

Five charges were preferred against three defendants at the local Magisr trate’s Court on Thursday, before Mr F. H. Levien, S.M., at the instance of the Waikato Traffic Group’s inspector, (Robert Metcalfe.

The first case dealt with had Martin J. Hilder, of Otorohanga, as defendant. He was charged with overloading his motor vehicle and with exceeding the road classification, on the Great South Road main highway, on 15th April. Hilder did not appear*, but his employee, the driver of the lorry, was present. • <; The inspector said the date was just before Easter, and he stopped the vehicle near Kihikihi at about 7.30 p.m. The weight was 5 tons 8 cwt, whereas the vehicle was licensed to' carry up to 5 tons, and the road classification was 4 1 tons. The load comprised drums of benzine, general goods, and some long seats destined for a sports meeting at Otorohanga. The lorry driver, named Young, said the load picked up at Hamilton was 2|.tons, plus some seats from Te Rapa racecourse. ;He would admit having 3 cwt or 4 oyer tile, road limit. The inspector: told him : hear Kihikihi that he could not cross the Puniu River bridge with such a load, and he Hhd to take another route. At Otorohanga some time later he met the inspector, and told him the seats had been weighed, and were below the inspector’s weights. Inspector Metcalfe said it would appear that the firm was holding the driver, Young, responsible, and that he would have to pay . any fine. His Worship imposed a fine of £2 for overloading on the license and £3 for exceeding the road classification. Costs were 10s on each charge.

The next defendants were the Mapara Timber Company, of Poro-ota-rao, charged with operating a heavy motor vehicle without a heavy traffic license on the Great South Road on 2nd May. Inspector Metcalfe said the vehicle had material aboard for a sawmill near National Park, and when stopped the driver told him the vehicle was being taken to give a demonstration to ,the sawmill people for Dominion Motors, but the latter denied this, saying the truck had been sold. The load was -5 tons 3 cwt, thus requiring an E license. It was a heavy six-wheeler, and probably the tare weight was not given; it was an old vehicle re-conditioned.

His Worship, perusing a letter from the firm, said they said something, impossible to believe, about not being aware of the need for a license to take a truck through the district. That was a perfectly ridiculous statement. A fine of £2 10s was imposed, with costs 10s.

Two charges were preferred against Victor L. Shuter, of Auckland, who apparently trades as the Taumarununi Trading Company, for operating a motor vehicle bearing a false classification plate and for refusing to allow his vehicle to be weighed. The date of the alleged offence was 28th May. Mr Oliphant, for defendant, entered a plea of guilty. The inspector said that at about 6 p.m. he stopped the vehicle en rotue from Taumarunui to Auckland, about four or five miles north of Te. Awamutu. It bore a license plate K, for 7 J tons, but it was really licensed to carry only 3£ tons. He told the driver it was necesasry to weigh the vehicle, but Shuter contended that it had already been weighed—at Te Kuiti—adding that he was sick of the interferences by inspectors. At this stage Mr Oliphant asked for permission to withdraw the plea of guilty, and substitute one of not guilty, so that the full facts of the case w T ould be adduced.

His Worship said he would like to see defendant, for he had been coming before the Courts in various towns so often that he had become almost notorious.

In further evidence the inspector said he had overtaken the vehicle, but the driver did not stop, though the siren was sounded, so he passed and then swung the signal to pull up at once. The lorry was stopped on a fairly flat part of the road, just before a right-hand bend where a signpost was erected. He was not switching the lights on and off before he overtook the lorry. He did not know there was a lady passenger on the vehicle who had sustained injury when the lorry was pulled up suddenly. He found subsequently that the vehicle had been weighed at Te Kuiti by Inspector McKenzie. Defendant, in evidence, said the lorry had a license, either for 5 tons 17 cwt or 53 tons;, he was not sure which.

His Wiorship: It is no use trying to tell me that; You know that licenses are not issued for fractions of half a ton. Continuing, Shuter said the weight given him by the inspector at Te Kuiti was within his license limit. Just before being pulled up north of Te Awamutu he did not hear the siren of the inspector’s car. He knew that car, and had recognised the siren’s sound on other occasions. By applying the brakes quickly to avoid a collision when the inspector pulled up in front of him the lorry stopped suddenly, and the lady passenger was injured. The lady told the inspector she was ill and wanted to get to Hamilton for attention. The reply was that the delay would not be long. Inspector Metcalfe’s attitude annoyed him, and he refused to have the vehicle weighed. He denied that he had threatened another inspector with violence, and that he had had an altercation with the Otorohanga inspector. Mrs Howie, of Taumarunui, said she was the passenger in the lorry at the time. When the vehicle was pulled up sudednly to avoid a collision she was thrown forward on to the windscreen, and suffered injury to her nose and leg; she was dazed. She then asked the inspector not to delay them as she was feeling ill. The driver also said to the inspector: “This lady is ill; I want to take her on to Hamilton.” She told the inspector how her injuries were incurred. She did not hear any siren, adding that trucks made a big noise

going down-hill in second gear. To the inspector: She felt better at Hamilton, so didn’t go to a doctor. She went bn to Auckland, returning home two days later. His Worship: I can only believe it is a cock-and-bull story you are telling me. What you say is only on a level with the other evidence for the defence. Shuter will be fined £2 on the first charge and £5 on the second, with 10s, costs in each case. I hope it will be a warning to this young man. He has been before the Court many times lately. If there is no room on the road for people carrying on. their legitimate business, the sooner Shuter is off it altogether the better.