Connor v. Pittsburg Railways Co.
Connor v. Pittsburg Railways Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
In reviewing the judgment entered on the verdict by the learned court below the plaintiff has the right to demand of this court that we accept as established every fact favorable to him which is supported by any evidence produced at the trial. There was evidence to support the following facts: The plaintiff, a man about thirty-eight years of age, who had been a school teacher for many years, desired to board a car of the defendant company going east on Penn avenue towards his home, at about eleven o'clock p. m. He, being then on the north side of Penn avenue a few feet west of the Twenty-sixth street crossing, noticed a car of the defendant approaching from thd west. The headlight was burning, the street was comparatively free from traffic, and the approaching car was plainly visible. The usual speed of cars on that street was
It is but to state a universally recognized rule, both of law and of reason, to say that a pedestrian may not undertake to cross a track in front of a visibly approaching car, running under normal conditions, without leaving himself sufficient time to clear the track before the arrival of the car. But it is equally true that a pedestrian, desiring to cross a city street, is not prohibited either by law or reason from doing so merely because a car is ap
We are not unmindful of the fact that the testimony is so conflicting that it cannot be reconciled and that the defendant produced a strong array of evidence tending to show that the accident happened under conditions wholly different from those testified to by the plaintiff. But it is too late to successfully argue here and now that the plaintiff was either untruthful or mistaken. The jury
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
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- Connor v. Pittsburg Railways Company
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- Negligence — Street railways — Pedestrian—Crossing street — Case for jury. 1. A pedestrian may not undertake to cross a street railway track in front of a visibly approaching car, running under normal conditions, without leaving himself sufficient time to clear the track before the arrival of the car; but he is not prohibited either by law or reason from doing so merely because a car is approaching at some distance away, although plainly in sight. Between these two extremes there must be a zone of reasonable safety within which he may cross a street, although a car be approaching, without it being apparent that he has violated any rule either of law or of common sense. Under such circumstances the propriety of his determination to cross the street, the reasonableness of his conclusion, or the lack of it must be submitted to and passed upon by a jury. 2. In an action against a street railway company by a man thirty-eight years old to recover damages for personal injuries, the case is for the jury where the evidence for the plaintiff, although contradicted, tended to show that the plaintiff, at night, desiring to take a car approached a near side crossing, but being on the wrong side of the street had to pass over the track in order to reach the side from which he could properly enter the car; that in making the crossing his left leg was struck by a car after he had cleared the track with his right; that by the rules of the company cars stopped at the near side crossing, and that their speed was about ten miles an hour at the locality in question; that at the time of the accident the headlight was burning, and the approaching car was plainly visible; that when plaintiff first saw the car it was 300 feet from the crossing; that he then walked along the street to its intersection with the cross street keeping the car in sight, and making signals to the car to stop, which were apparently observed by the motorman; that as plaintiff stepped upon the track it seemed to him as if the car’s speed had been suddenly greatly accelerated, or as if the motorman had lost control of it; that at the time he was struck the ear was running probably three times its usual speed; and that it ran a distance of ninety-two feet after striking the plaintiff before it was stopped.