Uhler v. Jones
Uhler v. Jones
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The accident out of which this action arose occurred at the intersection of Swedesboro Road and Crooked Lane. The evidence produced by the plaintiff showed conclusively the negligence of defendant’s driver. The defendant does not deny his own negligence but seeks to set aside the verdict and judgment on the ground of
Keeping this rule in mind we find that the plaintiff was traveling westward on Swedesboro Road with his car well under control. When about eighty-five feet from the intersection with Crooked Lane he began sounding his Klaxon horn and continued to do so until he reached the intersection and also slackened his speed so that he was not traveling in excess of ten miles an hour. His view to the right on Crooked Lane was interfered with by a high bank and a tree, but as the front of his car reached Crooked Lane, from his seat, which was about five feet back, he could see forty-five feet down the slope to his right and saw or heard nothing of an approaching car. He therefore proceeded at slackened speed and after glancing to his left and then immediately to his right again, as was entirely proper, when the front of his car was four feet from the center of Crooked
The defendant contends that as he was only fifty feet away when plaintiff first saw him the court below was bound to rule as a matter of law that the vehicles were approaching the intersection at the same time and there was therefore an “affirmative duty” upon the plaintiff to keep out of the defendant’s way: Weber v. Greenebaum, 270 Pa. 382; but he overlooks the fact that when plaintiff first saw defendant and the latter was fifty feet from the crossing, he, the plaintiff, was not ap
The plaintiff in this case entered upon the crossing of this intersection of public roads without any negligence or lack of care on his part. When his car had traveled almost half of the intersecting road the defendant’s car suddenly loomed up only fifty feet away from the crossing, but at that time the plaintiff was not approaching the intersection, he was already on it and he had good ground for believing that to stop his car then would inevitably result in a collision and that Ms only way of escape was to proceed. When plaintiff was approaching the intersection and five or ten feet distant therefrom, defendant, at the rate of speed he was traveling, was probably ninety or a hundred feet away from the intersection, but could not be seen owing to the bank and tree obstructing the vision. The jury would have been justified in finding that the plaintiff approached the crossing “substantially in advance” of the defendant approaching from the right. Having entered upon the crossing of this intersection without negligence on Ms part, the plaintiff cannot be convicted of contributory negligence as a matter of law because in a moment of sudden peril
The case is distinguished from Gosling v. Gross, 66 Pa. Superior Ot. 304, in that in that case it was the plaintiff’s own negligence in failing to have his car under control which placed him in the position of sudden peril from which he endeavored to escape by going ahead.
The judgment is affirmed.
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- Negligence — Contributory negligence — Automobiles—Street intersections — Cars not approaching at same time — Motor Vehicle Act —Act of June SO, 1919, P. L. 678. The Motor Vehicle Act of June 30,1919, P. L. 678, provides that where two vehicles approach the intersection of two public highways at the same time, the vehicle approaching from the right shall have the right of way. One arriving at the intersection a substantial distance in advance of another ear is entitled to proceed. In an action for damages, arising from a right-angle automobile collision, between two automobiles at a road intersection, it appeared that the plaintiff approached the crossing with his car well under control. When his car had traveled half the intersection, the defendant’s car suddenly loomed up on his right only fifty feet away from the crossing and, traveling at high speed, collided with the plaintiff’s automobile before he could pass. Under such circumstances, the court could not rule that the two cars were approaching the crossing at the same time, within the meaning of section 25 of the Motor Vehicle Act, and the question of plaintiff’s contributory negligence was for the jury. Having entered upon the intersection without negligence on his part, the plaintiff cannot be convicted of contributory negligence, as a matter of law, because in a moment of sudden peril, caused by the defendant’s negligence, he did not calculate the distance yet to be traversed in connection with his own rate of travel and the speed of the approaching peril, and accurately balance that against his likelihood of escape by stopping in the middle of a narrow road in the path of the oncoming danger. Gosling v. Gross, 66 Pa. Superior Ct. 304, distinguished.