Mason v. San Diego Electric Railway Co.

BARNARD, P. J. This is an action for damages, the plaintiff having been injured in a collision between an automobile in which she was riding and a 30-foot bus owned by the corporate defendant and driven by the individual defendant. The collision occurred on a clear dry day in May, 1939, at the intersection of 48th Street and El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego. 48th Street runs north and south, and El Cajon Boulevard east and west. El Cajon is 66 feet wide from curb to curb and is marked for two lanes of travel on each side of the center. On the south half of that street it is 16 feet from the property line to the south curb, 22 feet from that curb to the first white line and 12 feet from that line to the double center line. 48th Street is 36 feet wide with boulevard-stop signs at its intersection with El Cajon. At the time in question the defendants’ bus had proceeded north on 48th Street and was making a left turn in order to proceed west on El Cajon when it collided with the car in which the plaintiff was riding, which was proceeding east on El Cajon in the northerly of the two south lanes. That car was being driven by a Mrs. Keeney.

This action was tried by the court without a jury and the defendants have appealed from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff. Their sole contention is that the evidence is not sufficient to support a finding of negligence on the part of the driver of the bus. It is argued that the bus driver had the right of way since he entered the intersection first and since he stopped and yielded the right of way to other vehicles approaching so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard, as required by section 552 of the Vehicle Code, and that the only inference which may reasonably be drawn is that the driver of the bus was not negligent.

The driver of the bus testified that as he approached this [19]intersection from the south he stopped the bus with its left side just east of the center line of 48th Street and with its front end just south of the south property line of El Cajon; that he raised his signal arm for a left turn, and starting up slowly proceeded 21 or 22 feet and again stopped with the front end of the bus five or six feet out from the south curb line of El Cajon; that he did this so that the bus would be visible to other traffic and also to get a better vision of approaching traffic; that “there was a stream of cars proceeding east on El Cajon”; that he waited a few seconds and a few cars went by; that “I saw a slight opening, that is, a distance between cars there, so I started the bus up slowly to indicate that I wanted to start up”; that as he did this two cars which were traveling east on the southerly of the two south lanes of El Cajon came to a stop; that when he was about two feet north of the first line south of the double center line he saw the Keeney car approaching; that this car was about 40 feet from the prolongation of the west property line of 48th Street and was coming toward him at from 20 to 27 miles an hour with no indication that it was going to stop; and that he applied his brakes and brought the bus to a stop with the left front corner approximately at the center line of El Cajon and just east of the west property line of 48th Street. He further testified that during all of this time there was nothing to obstruct the vision between the bus and the Keeney car; that “I started the bus up slowly to indicate that I was going to go through, and this first ear saw that I wanted to come through and he stopped for me and gave me the right of way, and the second car also stopped behind him, and by doing that of course I figured I had the right of way and I started the bus up to proceed on through”; that from his last stop to the point of collision he traveled around 23 or 24 feet; that when he first noticed the Keeney car it was coming around the two cars which had stopped for him; and that when he stopped the bus the Keeney car was 15 to 20 feet away and running 20 to 25 miles an hour.