CUSTOM OF THE ROAD
LED HORSES AT NIGHT. MUST KEEP TO NEAR SIDE. The custom in Now Zealand of horsemen leading horses by night keeping to the right or offside of the road is held by Mr Wyvern Wilson, S.M., to be illegal. In a case that came before him at Hamilton, Thomas Samuel Sinclair, of Rukuhia (Mr Strang), a farm hand employed by Hector Gray, the ox-jockey, was charged with failing to keep on the left or near side of the road. Sinclair was riding a thoroughbred mare with a foal at foot at night on the Hamilton-Ohaupo Road. A drunken motor-lorry driver, who was subsequently fined £2O, approached. The lights of the car startled the horses, which were on the right or offside of the road, and the foal was injured by the lorry. Expert evidence was given, that it was the custom in New Zealand to lead horses on the right side of the road. The magistrate, in a reserved decision. said that English and Scotch cases and decisions showed that there was reason and possibly law in support of the leading of horses on the offside of the road, but they all contemplated happenings by day when the parties could see each other. Ho did not think they were applicable to the circumstances of the case before him, which happened at night, when the defendant knew of the approaching ear and knew the car driver was unaware of his presen(‘o.
The dof mi dan t know for some considerable time before he saw its lamps that a motor-car with bright headlights was approaching and the magistrate thought the course open to him which reasonable caution would dictate was to stop on his proper side of the road, perhaps off the cai ‘ageway, until the ear had passed. There seemed to have been nothing to prevent him holding the marc on the edge of the road at the foot of the slope, at a distance of about 20ft. back from the scene of the accident. It was jot prudent to take her where the oncoming lights would flash directly into her eyes as the car rounded the corner.
Defendant was convicted for failing to discharge his duty of keeping to the left when meeting the lorry, and was fined 20s and costs 7s.
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Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19512, 15 February 1926, Page 10
Word Count
386CUSTOM OF THE ROAD Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19512, 15 February 1926, Page 10
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