SCENE OF ACCIDENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 205, 31 August 1943, Page 4

SCENE OF ACCIDENT

MAGISTRATE’S INSPECTION NEW LIGHT ON EVIDENCE “I have had the opportunity of viewing the locality since hearing the evidence, and, as not infrequently happens in these cases, that view throws an entirely new light on the evidence," said Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., | when giving a reserved decision in, the Magistrate's Court, Wanganui, yesterday, and dismissing a charge of driving without due care and attention preferred against a married : woman, Sybil Florence Bevin. i The case was a sequel to a collision ! between a motor-car driven by dei fendant and a cycle ridden by Thomas I Devany, -retired labourer. The ac- | cident occurred on July 20 near the junction of Somme Parade and Ply- ; mouth Street. Senior-Sergeant F. Culloty prosecuted and Mr. H. G. Horsley appeared for defendant. In his judgment, the magistrate stated that the evidence showed that Devany was proceeding down Plymouth Street toward Somme Parade at a moderate cycling speed, with the intention of turning to his right into Somme Parade. Defendant was driving her car along Somme Parade at a speed of about 30 miles an hour, which she reduced on seeing the cyclist approaching the junction on her left. “I was impressed at the hearing by the circumstance, and this circumstance had no doubt impressed the prosecution, that the cyclist had got across the greater part of the intersection, and was in the act of straightening up on the to his right when he was struck on or about the ankle, and on the rear wheel of his cycle, by the left-hand mudguard of the car, which was veering to |he right in defendant’s endeavour *to avoid the cyclist,’’ the magistrate added. “In other words, the fact that the accident occurred on defendant’s wrong side of the road seemed to be a strong point against, her.” When inspecting the locality, however, he noticed that the width of the driveable road in the area was less than 27 feet, and all the events in the area of the intersection took place within a small compass. Defendant had stated in evidence that when she saw the cyclist approaching along Plymouth Street he gave no signal of his intention to turn to his right, which course would have brought him out across the road in front of her car. Defendant concluded that he intended to turn to his left. “Remembering that defendant had the right of way, and had the right to assume, as she did assume, that the cyclist would stop and give way to her, can it be said that she was driv-

ing without due care and attention at the time of, or immediately before the accident. I do not think so,” the magistrate added. Defendant had to act suddenly in an emergency forced on her by the cyclist, and the fact that she swerved to her wrong side in an endeavour to avoid the cyclist was not conclusive evidence of negligence. Her action, the magistrate commented, might have avoided a more serious accident. The charge was dismissed.