McNeal v. Detroit United Railway
McNeal v. Detroit United Railway
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff was driving his motor car 'on defendant’s track. One reason for doing so was
In any view, the issue is a narrow one. Defendant’s agent saw the plaintiff’s car, and claims to have directed the movement of the street car in conformity with the visible and probable movements of plaintiff’s car, at the same time clamoring with the gong for the right of way. Plaintiff, he says, without apparent reason or excuse, diminished the speed of his car, bringing it almost to a stop, when he was justified in assuming that the speed of the car would be increased. The street car was a few feet in the rear and could not be stopped, although proper efforts were made to stop it. Add to this the claim that plaintiff, if he did not know, ought to have known, that a.street car was behind'him, and defendant’s case is, in substance, presented.
It is well enough to more carefully detail plaintiff’s actions as he himself described them. He was calling upon customers. He called on one at the southwest corner of Pallister and Hamilton, driving his car to the curb on Hamilton and stopping the. motor. His call occupied 10 or 15 minutes of time. He looked for a car, about half a square, about 175 feet, and saw none, cranked his car, and drove it out obliquely upon the street car track — the west or south-bound track..
“Q. I wonder how you limited your vision to half a block?
*110 “A. I may have glanced a mile and a half up that street.
“Q. You did not see any street car?
“A. I did not say that, but there was no street car in my immediate vicinity. * * *
“Q. How many miles an hour were you driving as you drove down the car track?
“A. Going very slowly.
“Q. How many miles an hour were you going from the time you got on the track until you commenced to slow up — what rate of speed were you going?
“A. Five or six miles an hour. * * * When I got to the corner of Bethune, the man I wanted to stop for was on the sidewalk between Pallister and Bethune, the same block that I was passing. I should say he was two-thirds of the way from Bethune street to Pallister. I passed him, and turned up into where the snow was out of Bethune in the section.
“Q. What part of Bethune were you on when you were hit? In the middle or the north or south side of it?
“A. A little bit to the south of the center.
“Q. So your automobile was still running at the time it"was hit?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Still moving forward?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. What rate of speed — how many miles per hour was it going when it was struck?
“A. Very slowly.
“Q. Three or four miles an hour?
“A. I should approximate about that.
“Q. Were you struck near the center of Bethune?
“A. Just below the center.
“Q. Where was it, with reference to Bethune avenue, that you attempted to slow your car down first?
“A. Right at Bethune avenue.
“Q. The north side of Bethune, or the center of the street?
“A. About the center of the street.
“Q. You had only traveled a distance of five or six or seven feet from the time you commenced to slow down until you were struck?
“A. A little'more than that. To make it slow you*111 shut off the gas. I did not leave my engine running. It would not stop it. I would not put so much effort on; that is all. It was a two-speed car; there was only two speeds to it.
“Q. How many feet did you run from the time you shut off the gas until you were struck? Was it five or six or more?
“A. Well, my gas was not shut off entirely.
“Q. From the time you did whatever you did — I do not care what it was — from the time you started to stop until you were struck, did you run five or six feet, or more?
“A. I would approximate it eight or ten feet.
“Q. You were running during' that time, in the process of slowing up, at the rate of three or four miles an hour?
“A. I had not got under headway from where I started up on Pallister street. I think I must have been running seven; it may have been five on the street. When I started to stop, I was going four or five miles. When I got struck, I was running at that rate of speed. My car went 17 feet from the point where it was struck until it came to a standstill; that is, including the length of my own car. My automobile, when it came to a standstill, was off the track entirely. The street"car had not entirely passed it; the head or front of the street car was ahead of my automobile; the back of the automobile behind it.
“Q. Your automobile would be about midway between the front end and the back end of the street car when you came to a standstill?
“A. It was nearer the front end.
“Q. The motorman said the rail was slippery?
“A. Icy.
“Q. And the brakes would not hold?
“A. That is just what he said. There was no other reason for me to stop at the comer of Bethune, except to pick up that man. If he had not been there, I would have gone down the track.
“Q. At an increased rate of speed?
“A. Undoubtedly.”
This testimony was given upon his cross-examination. He did not look for a car after he entered his
“Whether or not the plaintiff has shown by a fair preponderance of the proofs that in and about what he did on that occasion he did exercise that degree of care and caution that an ordinarily prudent person would under like circumstances.”
No reversible error is made to appear, and the judgment is therefore affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- McNEAL v. DETROIT UNITED RAILWAY
- Status
- Published