Hansen v. Bledsoe

GRIFFIN, J.

In this nonjury action for damages arising out of an automobile accident on May 28, 1951, plaintiff recovered judgment against defendants. Claims of damages by defendants against plaintiff on their cross-complaint were denied.

The contentions on this appeal are that plaintiff failed to prove that defendants were guilty of negligence which was a proximate cause of the accident; that plaintiff was guilty of negligence, as a matter of law, which was the sole proximate cause of his injuries and damages; and insufficiency of the evidence to support the findings and judgment. No reporter was present at the trial and the record of the evidence comes to us on a settled statement of oral testimony. (Rule 7(b), Rules on Appeal.)

The accident happened in Riverside at the intersection of Eighth and Pine Streets about noontime. Pine Street runs generally in a north and south direction. Eighth Street is a through highway (U.S. 60) 60 feet wide, with a double white center line. Each side of the street is divided into traffic lanes. Stop signs were erected on the Pine Street approach to Eighth Street. Plaintiff Hansen was driving his new 1951 Victoria Ford south on Pine Street. Defendant Love (aged 16) was driving a Chrysler Sedan owned by defendant Bledsoe east on Eighth Street in the first lane south of the center line. The two cars collided in the intersection.

Plaintiff testified that when he approached Eighth Street he stopped at the stop sign, looked to his left, then straight ahead, then to his right, and saw no automobiles approaching from either direction; that he started forward, again looked to his left, straight ahead and to his right, as before, and it was then, by a fleeting glance, he first observed the Bledsoe

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vehicle to his right approximately 15 to 20 feet away, moving rapidly; that at that time the front portion of his own car was just crossing the double white center line of Eighth Street and the defendant’s ear was approaching in the first lane south of it; that plaintiff did not blow his horn or apply his brakes because he had no time to do so; that the collision occurred and plaintiff’s car came to rest at a point about 94 feet from the point of impact after it had crossed over the curb and gone onto the front yard of the property at the southeast corner of this intersection; that the Bledsoe ear stopped near the point of impact; that in his opinion the Bledsoe car was coming at a high rate of speed when first observed by him; that after the collision an automobile mechanic examined his car at the request of the investigating officer and found his car to be in low gear; that the impact rendered his brakes useless and the momentum of the car carried it over the south curb and onto the lawn. In his deposition, on cross-examination, he testified his car was traveling between 15 and 20 miles per hour in low gear at the time of the collision, and he did not speed up because he figured he had plenty of time to get out of the way.