Magistrate’s Comment On Speed Of Motor-Cycles At Dangerous Intersections

Wanganui Chronicle, 26 July 1949, Page 6

Magistrate’s Comment On Speed Of Motor-Cycles At Dangerous Intersections

Cases of motor-cycles driving like this at dangerous intersections would have to be stopped, declared Mr. S. S. Preston, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Wanganui, yesterday, when told that three young motor-cyclists had ridden across the intersection of Victoria Avenue and Taupo Quay at speeds estimated by a constable as be- ; between 40 and 45 miles an hour, i Defendants were Edward Joseph iPointon (Wellington), Walter Harold ■ Jensen (Wanganui) and Raymond Cleary Yule (Wellington). They wer e charged with exceeding the speed limit of 30 miles an hour in a closely-populated area, a line of £1 costs 10s, being imposed in each case. Constable R. F. Burgess said that at 4.50 p.m. on June 4 he was at the lower end of Victoria Avenue when his attention was attracted by three motor-cycles travelling along Taupo Quay in an easterly direction. He estimated that their speed across the intersection with Taupo Quay, Victoria Avenue and the Town Bridge at btween 40 and 45 miles an hour. Sergeant A. Carlyan (who prosejuted): What would have happened had any traffic been coming off the bridge? Constable Burgess: It would have been impossible to have avo- led an accident. Witness said he went along to an 1 hotel and interviewed th e three de- . fendants. The magistrate: How old were . they? Witness: About 18, sir. : What were they doing in the hotel? . —“They were not in the bar. They ■ were in the foyer. Two of them were : from a distance and were seeking ac- . commodation. The magistrate said that motoii cyclists who drove like this also enr dangered their own lives. They only . had to be touched by a car and tncy - would fall on to the hard sealed suii face of the road. i