People v. Hahn

98 Cal.App.2d Supp. 841 (1950) THE PEOPLE, Respondent,

v.

SAMUEL SIMPSON HAHN, Appellant.

California Court of Appeals.

July 3, 1950. Saul Ross for Appellant.

Ray L. Chesebro, City Attorney, Donald M. Redwine, Assistant City Attorney, and Philip E. Grey, Deputy City Attorney, for Respondent.

THE COURT.

The defendant appeals from the judgment that followed his conviction on a charge of having failed to yield the right of way to a pedestrian who was lawfully in the crosswalk at which the defendant had been halted by a traffic signal saying "Stop." As debated by the parties to this action, the important question before us, and to which they desire us to give an explicit answer, is this: Must a driver of a motor vehicle, who is waiting at an intersection's crosswalk because the traffic signal is against him, continue to wait, after the "Go" signal appears, until all the pedestrians in the crosswalk have passed before him? Although we agree with the appellant that this question should be answered in the negative, we nevertheless are affirming the judgment, for we find the crucial question not to be the one over which the parties have struggled.

We quote the pertinent provisions of section 476, Vehicle Code, upon which defendant's conviction rests: "Whenever traffic is controlled by official traffic control signals exhibiting the words 'Go,' 'Caution,' or 'Stop,' or exhibiting different colored lights successively, one at a time, or with arrows, the following colors only shall be used, and said terms and lights shall indicate and apply to drivers of vehicles and pedestrians as follows:"

"(a) Green alone or 'Go.'"

"1. Vehicular traffic facing the signal shall proceed straight through or may turn right or left or make a semicircular or U turn unless a sign at such place prohibits any such turn. But vehicular traffic, including vehicles turning right or left, shall yield the right of way to other vehicles and to pedestrians [98 Cal.App.2d Supp. 843] lawfully within the intersection or an adjacent crosswalk at the time such signal is exhibited."

[1] It will be noted, reverting to the question deemed important by the parties, that the requirement of the statute is not that vehicular traffic shall continue to remain motionless until those lawfully in the intersection or an adjacent crosswalk have passed by, but only that it shall yield the right of way to them. We have had occasion to consider the meaning of "yield the right of way" in People v. McLachlan (1939), 36 Cal.App.2d Supp. 754 [93 P.2d 280], and People v. Noland, (1948), 83 Cal.App.2d Supp. 819 [189 P.2d 84]. We stated in the McLachlan case (p. 758): "... it is clear that when a pedestrian crossing a roadway in a crosswalk is so far from the path of an approaching automobile and proceeding in such a manner that no interference between them is reasonably to be expected, the driver of the automobile need not wait for it to develop." Applying these words to the possibilities of the question under consideration, we are mindful that not infrequently a pedestrian, lawfully in the crosswalk because he entered it while the signal indicated "Go" (see People v. Hawkins (1942), 51 Cal.App.2d Supp. 779 [124 P.2d 691]), is but a relatively short distance from his point of entrance, and so far distant from the waiting motor vehicle that the latter can proceed to make use of that portion of the highway lying within the crosswalk without interfering with the right of the pedestrian to use it when he reaches it. The duty placed upon the driver is not so expressed that he is required to wait until the crosswalk is clear; his duty is to wait only if necessary to avoid interference with the pedestrian.