Behneman v. International Cementers, Inc.

BARNARD, P. J. This is an action for damages arising out of an automobile collision. The plaintiffs have appealed [582]from the judgment entered in accordance with a jury’s verdict for the defendants.

The accident happened about four miles east of Maricopa on a highway called the “Maricopa Cut-off,” at a point where an “oiled road” enters the highway from an oil field to the south. The surrounding country is level and open, with no trees, buildings or other obstructions to the view. The Maricopa Cut-off, which runs east and west, is paved and divided into two lanes with “black top” shoulders on the sides. The “oiled road,” which comes in from the south, is of general average width, the oiled portion in the center being about 13 feet wide. There is a fence along each side of the “oiled road” and a line of telephone poles along its east side. There was an iron post with a “Richfield sign” 16 feet east of the entrance to the “oiled road.” Where the “oiled road” entered the highway there was a well defined “Y” indicating that heavy traffic passed into and from it both to the east and to the west.

The accident happened about 6 p. m. on May 25, 1946. The sky was overcast but visibility was good and the pavement dry. The defendants’ truck, which was equipped with a tank and cement mixing and pumping machinery, was proceeding west on this highway. An automobile driven by the plaintiff husband was also traveling west on this highway and approaching the truck. This automobile was towing a trailer loaded with household equipment weighing from 2,000 to 3,000 pounds. The driver of the automobile pulled over into his left lane and attempted to pass the truck while at the same time the driver of the truck was turning south into this “oiled road.” The right front corner of the automobile came into contact with the left rear corner of the truck, resulting in considerable damage to the automobile and its occupants, and practically no damage to the truck.

Three witnesses, who were on the “oiled road” a short distance south of the highway, testified as to the surrounding circumstances, in addition to the two drivers. There is evidence that the truck driver looked in his rearview mirrors and saw nothing coming; that he put up his mechanical signal arm for a left turn; that he changed to a lower gear; that he slowed down from about 40 miles an hour to 15 miles an hour; that he again looked in the rearview mirrors just before starting to make the left turn; and that he heard no sound of a horn. There is also evidence that the truck was halfway through the turn when the sound of brakes on the