Flynn v. Pittsburgh Railways Co.
Flynn v. Pittsburgh Railways Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The contributory negligence of the plaintiff below was so clear that the defendant’s motion for a non-suit should have prevailed, or, at the close of the testimony, a verdict ought to have been directed in its favor. After leaving a street car on California Avenue, in the City of Allegheny, the appellee, with several others, walked down an alley to Beaver Avenue, for the purpose of boarding a car on the south side of that avenue. There were two tracks of the defendant company upon it, and to reach the one on the south side it was necessary to cross over the one on the north. The testimony of the appellee is that, after she had passed out of the alley, she stepped down: from the curb of the pavement and looked and listened for an approaching car, and, having neither seen nor heard one, passed over the space between the curb and first track — less than eight feet in width — continuing to look and listen for a car. The day was clear and bright and there was nothing to obstruct a view of the track for more than a mile in the direction from which the car came that struck her, for it was straight and level for that distance. She was struck just as her feet were upon the track, though the coming of the car could have been
But it is urged that the appellee ought not to be adjudged guilty of contributory negligence, as a matter of law, for two reasons, first, she was nearsighted, and, second, as there was a safety stop a few feet from the alley, in the direction from which the car came, she
The first assignment is sustained and the judgment reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Flynn v. Pittsburgh Railways Company
- Cited By
- 17 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Negligence — Street railways — “Stop, loole and listen,” — Contributory negligence — Near sightedness of plaintiff — Safety stop. Where a woman on a clear day approaches a street railway track at a point where there is nothing to obstruct a view of the track for more than a mile in the direction of an approaching car, and is struck the instant she goes upon the track, she is guilty of contributory negligence and cannot recover from the railway company for the injuries sustained; and she is not relieved from the charge of contributory negligence because she was nearsighted, nor is she relieved from such charge because there was a safety stop a few feet away in the direction from which the car came, if it appears, that, if she had looked before she stepped upon the track, she would • have known that the car had not stopped at the safety stop.