Bilyeu v. City of San Diego

BARNARD, P. J. This is an action for damages arising from an automobile collision. A jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant and the plaintiff has appealed from the judgment.

The accident occurred about 9 a. m. on October 17, 1951, at the intersection of Ash Street and Cabrillo Freeway in [632]San Diego. This freeway runs north and south, having two lanes for southbound traffic which are separated from the lanes for northbound traffic by a strip which is 54 feet wide. Ash street comes into this freeway from the west but does not cross it. There are islands at this intersection forming so-called “slots,” one of which permits northbound traffic on the freeway to make a circular turn to the left and enter Ash Street, and another of which permits traffic from Ash Street to makx a similar left turn and enter the northbound lanes of the freeway.

Traffic at this intersection is controlled by a system of mechanical signals. Those material here are the ones regulating traffic coming north on.the freeway and turning across the southbound lanes of the freeway in order to proceed west on Ash Street, and regulating traffic coming from Ash Street and crossing the southbound lanes in order to proceed north on the freeway. Two signals which are always red face a northbound driver on the freeway who turns' into the slot leading to Ash Street; When another red light stops southbound traffic on the freeway two green arrows, which stay on for an interval of 12 seconds, permit a driver in this slot to cross those southbound lanes and proceed west on Ash Street. When those green arrows go off another green light comes on simultaneously, which permits a driver coming from Ash Street to cross the southbound lanes and to proceed north on the freeway.

Another street, Buss Boulevard, comes into the freeway from the east, ■ about 120 feet south of the Ash Street intersection. On this occasion the plaintiff entered the freeway from Buss Boulevard and traveled north. He testified that as he entered the freeway from Buss there were no ears north of him on the freeway, but that he saw two cars moving into Ash Street; that as he turned into the slot, preparatory to going into Ash Street, he saw the defendant’s car where it was stopped, near the west edge of the southbound lanes of the freeway; that he saw the green arrows as he turned into this slot; that he never stopped after he left Buss Boulevard until after the accident; that he was in high gear and going 15 miles an hour as he entered the intersection, and also at the time of the collision; that he stopped his ear within 15 feet after the accident; that the green arrows on the two signal lights were showing all the time he was making his left turn, and as he crossed the east line of the southbound lanes of the freeway; and that he did not see the defendant’s car in motion