Some Black-Out Problems and Their Investigation
| Date | 01 April 1940 |
| Published date | 01 April 1940 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X4001300207 |
| Author | H. T. S. Britton |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Some Black-out Problems and
Their Investigation
By
PROFESSOR
H.
T.
S.
BRITTON,
D.Sc., D.LC.,
F.LC.
Scientific Consultant to Exeter City Police
THE "
black-out"
has introduced new difficulties to the
policeman in his task of investigating and detecting crime,
and this is particularly true in connection with motoring acci-
dents. Under the cover of darkness it may happen that a
motorist, who has been involved in an accident, may be able
to get away and so entirely avoid detection.
It
might therefore be of some interest if I refer to the
investigation of
two"
black-out"
accidents in which recourse
to scientific assistance has been useful.
In
one case, it helped
to establish the guilt of a motorist, whilst in the other it served
to exonerate a lorry driver from blame.
The
first case refers to a couple of incidents in two distinct
parts of Exeter in which a young motorist was involved one
night in the early autumn. Some time during the day he had
motored from Exmouth to Exeter and set out on the return
journey after darkness had fallen and when visibility had
become poor owing to drizzling rain. He admitted in Court
that before starting he had taken whisky,
but
emphatically
contended that he reached the main Exmouth road by passing
through a series of side-streets. He could not say the precise
course he had pursued. Eventually, he reached the main road
by a road on the left-side,
but
almost immediately crossed over
the road and entered acul-de-sac on the opposite side.
This
led to an unfinished building estate where, at the end, he ran
his car into a heap of builders' refuse and in so doing smashed
the glass of one of his head-lamps.
Owing to the noisiness of his
car-it
had been running on
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