Trumbower v. Lehigh Valley Transit Co.
Trumbower v. Lehigh Valley Transit Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
At the place of the accident in which the plaintiff was
There was testimony which tended to show that the snow at the sides of the road was thirty inches in depth and packed and frozen so that vehicles could not pass through it or turn from the track, except at places where openings had been made; that all the occupants of the carriage were vigilant in looking for a car, and that when they first saw one it was two hundred or three hundred feet in front, running at the rate of thirty-five or forty miles an hour, that its headlight was very dim and no notice of its approach had been given; that the driver at
It may be in view of all the testimony in the case, that the driver relied too much on the motorman looking out for him and failed to act with ordinary prudence. But with the driver’s negligence we are not concerned unless it affected the plaintiff’s right to recover.
The negligence of the driver of a private conveyance cannot be imputed to a passenger who has no control over him: Carr v. Easton, 142 Pa. 139; Little v. Telegraph Co., 213 Pa. 229; Walsh v. Ry. Co., 232 Pa. 479; Kammerdiener v. Rayburn Township, 233 Pa. 328. A passenger is answerable for the consequences of his own negligence and if he voluntarily goes into a patent danger that he could have avoided or joins the driver in testing a danger, he cannot recover: Crescent Twp. v. Anderson, 114 Pa. 643; Kunkle v. Lancaster County, 219 Pa. 52. The plaintiff was a guest and had no control over the driver, and the danger in driving in the tracks was not so manifest that she can be said to have been negligent.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
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- Trumbower v. Lehigh Valley Transit Company
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- Negligence — Street railways — Head on collision between car and wagon — Imputation of negligence — passenger in carriage— Case for jury. 1. In an action against a street railway company to recover damages for personal injuries by an occupant of a carriage who was injured in practically a head-on collision between one of defendant’s cars and a carriage, the case is for the jury and a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff will be sustained where the evidence tends to show that the accident occurred on a winter night; that snow at the sides of the road was thirty inches in depth and packed and frozen so that vehicles could not pass through it or turn from the track, except at places where openings had been made; that the plaintiff and other occupants of the carriage were vigilant an looking for a car, and that when they first saw one it was 200 or 300 feet in front, running at the rate of 35 or 40 miles an hour; that its head light was very dim, and no notice of its approach had been given; that the driver at once looked for a place where he could turn out, and that the collision occurred while he was in the act of turning into an opening at a gateway. 2. The negligence of the driver of a private conveyance cannot be imputed to a passenger who has no control over him; but if the passenger voluntarily goes into a patent danger that he could have avoided or joins the driver in testing a danger, he cannot recover for any resulting injury.