DRIVING REGULATIONS
Page 19
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WITH EVERY DESIRE to fult.1 each obligation which the usage of society or the law may impose upon us, it is, not at all times possible for the motor driver (more especially if he— or she—be inexperienced and new to the pursuit) to keep in touch with all the rules and regulations with which the law has hedged us round. Those matters which are of every-day occurrence and experience, in connection with which we are thus constantlyin touch, become quickly ingrained, as it were, in our mentality, and compliance becoines almost second nature. But it is in connection with the unusual occurrences where the driver is apt to go wrong, as in the case which ocoured quite recently at Weymouth, where a, motor driver, who had only been driving a little time, had the misfortune to knock down a girl who walked in front of the lorry, with, unfortunately, fatal remits. This driver did the only possible thing he could do—and which, of course, any ',tight-thinking driver would do. He picked up the injured person and took her straight to the hospital. So far so good ; but when the young woman died subsequently and an inquest was held, the driver was very seriously cross-questioned and censured for not having informed the police.
This, of course, would have been in accordance with one of the provisions of the Motor Car Acts. In the event of an accident, it is incumbent upon the driver of the ear implicated to inform the police ; but we fancy, under the circumstances above described, nine out of ten of us would have done exactly what the driver in this ease did, and forgotten all about the police and the requirement to notify them. Naturally, ha,ving taken the injured party' to the hospital and put her in charge of what the driver would naturally look upon as the authorities, he went on his way, not exactly rejoicing, of course, but under the impression that he had done all that it was necessary for him to do.
The case may be taken as a reminder to drivers that such is a requirement of present-day motoring, so that, should they be unfortunately embroiled in an accident, the omission to fulfil it may not be another heinous charge laid art, their door.