Ross v. Bay City Transit Co.

SHINN, J., pro tem. This is an appeal by defendants from a judgment in plaintiffs’ favor after a trial of an action before the court, arising out of an injury sustained by plaintiff Kenneth Ross, a minor, while a passenger in a motor bus operated by defendant Bay City Transit Company.

The case presents the sole question whether the defendants were guilty of negligence contributing proximately to the accident, in the operation of the bus under the following circumstances : The bus was proceeding in a northerly direction on San Pedro Road, a paved highway having a width of about 40 feet. It was traveling at about 25 miles per hour on the east half of the highway with its right wheels 7 or 8 feet from the right edge of the pavement and the left wheels within 2 or 3 feet of- the center of the highway. [641]Traffic was heavy in each direction. The bus driver testified that he observed a car coming from the opposite direction at a distance of about 300 feet and at a speed of 50 or 55 miles per hour, that it was “just straddling the center line half and half” and passed two other ears going in the same direction; that he did not alter the course of the bus; that the ear returned to the west side of the highway after passing the other ears; that it came over to the east half of the highway when about 30 feet away from the bus, and that at that time he turned the bus slightly to the left. The side of the bus, about 10 feet from the front on the left side, was struck by the car, and plaintiff, who was riding with his arm on the sill of a window he had opened, was struck at or above the elbow, receiving serious and permanent injuries to his arm.

If there was negligence on the part of the driver of the bus, it is to be found in the evidence that the bus was driven close to the center line of the highway and proceeded straight ahead, with practically no deviation from its course, after the driver had observed the approaching car being driven at excessive speed and a part of the time on the east half of the highway.

Under section 122 of the California Vehicle Act, it was the duty of the driver of the bus to drive the same on the right half of the highway and close to the right edge of the highway, unless it was impracticable to do so, or unless he was overtaking and passing another vehicle. There was unoccupied space the width of the bus along the east edge of the highway; the bus was not in the act of passing another car; the entire highway was usable, and no reason was shown why the bus could not have traveled close to the edge as the law required. This violation of the law, which was clearly shown, was in itself an act of negligence.