179 Iowa 272 | Iowa | 1917
A road known as Be Yoe Street extends through Lone Tree in a southerly direction, and is intersected by a highway running east and west. This latter is 48 feet wide between, fences. Be Yoe Street is 66 feet wide, and the traveled way is in the center. There is an embankment about 4 feet high but 2y2 feet from the east line. The ground rises from 6 to 14 inches for-a width of 4 feet along the west line of the street. A culvert is on the east side of this street at the intersection with the highway, and is as long as the traveled way is wide, the north end being about 16 feet from the lot line. A stone 6 or 8 inches in diameter lies at the north end. A section corner -stone lies at the center of the intersecting roads,, about 30 feet from the stone at the end of the culvert, and between these stones is the traveled way. The highway from, the east slopes downward toward the intersection, and in turning north, Be Voe Street rises somewhat. Farther along, there was some descent toward the south. In the morning of August 30, 1911, the plaintiff drove from Lone Tree south along the west side of the traveled way until about 350 feet from the intersection, when, according to his testimony, he saw defendant driving his automobile from the east several rods around the corner; saw him turn to the north on the west side of the traveled way, thence over into or near the c.enter of the road, and thence back to the west directly toward plaintiff, who disconnected the power, put on the emergency' brake, and tried to avoid defendant’s car. I-Ie testified:
“When Zimmerman first came around the corner, he started north on the west side of the street, then he turned east as if he were going into the middle of the road, and I thought he was going onto the east side of the road where he belonged. He had his right front wheel in the center of the road, and then he turned and came back to the west side of the road toward my car. If I had not turned my
This was corroborated, in substance, by a person riding with him. Other evidence tended to show that both cars, after the collision, were on the west side of the road, that of defendant heading northeasterly, with rear wheels against the west bank, and that of plaintiff standing with the front turned slightly east of south, and about 180 feet from the intersection. On the other hand, defendant testified:
“When I came up to that corner and looked down the road, I saw an automobile coming down the hill. When I came around that corner, I intended to give this man the full road, and therefore I took a due course instead of taking a short turn. I took a due course and got out of the road as quick as I could over on the west side of the road, and I continued up the road 150 feet further, and this man was coming right down the center of the road. All of a sudden he turned very short to the west; then I saw he was going to run square head into me. I put on my brake and come to a standstill, when he turned his car very near to the east. The back of his car didn’t go as fast as the front of his car, that is to the north and south — -his car
Whether the speed of plaintiff’s car exceeded 25 miles an hour was in dispute. Defendant testified further that there were about 13 feet of grass west of the traveled way, and that before the collision his car had moved 70 or 80 feet on, the grass; that, as soon as 'plaintiff turned to the west, he began stopping his car, and that it was moving no more than 3 or 4 miles per hour when the collision occurred; and that immediately thereafter he discovered that the lever on plaintiff’s car was at high speed and the emergency brake loose, and that his car had not slowed down. The grounds of negligence alleged by plaintiff in his peti
This precluded offsetting damages, if any, allowed on the petition, against damages, if any, allowed on the counterclaim, or vice versa, and exacted finding for one or the other only. We do not overlook the rule that to submit an issue on which there is no evidence ordinarily is error; but where, by special interrogatory or otherwise, the issue appears to have been found in favor of the party complaining, all inference of prejudice is avoided. Here the finding against defendant on the counterclaim obviated any prejudice from an alleged error of which plaintiff might otherwise have complained.
“You are instructed that it is the law tld8 state that vehicles meeting each other on the public road shall give one half of the same, turning to the right, and a failure in this regard shall make the delinquent liable for all damages resulting therefrom. You are instructed that the phrase ‘vehicles meeting each other’ does not mean merely vehicles passing each other while going in opposite directions, but it implies a coming together in such manner that there would be an actual collision or apparent danger of one if they should pursue their course without change of direction. If one person or vehicle travel along one side of a highway and another passes along the other side, there is no meeting within the meaning of the statute and no violation of its provisions, and that would be true even though each person or vehicle would be on the left side of the highway. You are instructed that the failure of one party to give one
Counsel insist that the phrase “meeting each other” was not correctly defined. Elliott, in his work on Roads and Streets (3d E1 ), Yol. 2, Sec. 1080, points, out that, “where a statute provides that travelers shall pass to the right of the ‘center of the road/ the center of the wrought or traveled path is generally meant.” The statute of this state was so construed in Riepe v. Elting, 89 Iowa 82, where the court, speaking through Robinson, J., said:
“Our attention has not been called to any decision which construes a statute in all respects like that of this state, but we may well consider Avhat may be termed the ‘common law’ of the road, and decisions construing it, and statutes which are designed to regulate and make safe, and free from interruption, travel upon public ways. The terms ‘highway’ and ‘road/ as used in the statute of this state,
See 2 Elliott on Roads and Streets (3d Ed.), Sec. 1082. One may travel in the middle or on either side of the traveled way, where no other person is passing or about to pass in the opposite direction. It is only upon meeting another that the law of the road is invoked, and this is precisely what the instruction very clearly states, together with a definition of meeting in harmony with opinion in Riepe v. Elting, supra. The instruction was not as specific as it might have been, and the law as stated might well have been applied to the facts. Had this been done, the court must have said that, if the defendant, after turning the corner toward the north, swung his car over to the west side of highway, and then in the traveled way near its center, and thereafter turned to the left on the left half of the traveled way and toward plaintiff’s car, instead of on the right half of such way, and, in consequence of so doing, collided with plaintiff’s car, then he would be liable, unless some negligence on the paid of plaintiff contributed thereto. On the other hand, if the defendant, in turning to the north, swung his automobile to the left side of the highway, and, owing to the proximity of plaintiff’s car in the traveled
It is said that the- sixth instruction was erroneous, in that it did not advise the jury that a prima-facie case had been made out for plaintiff. The instruction was good as far as it went, and the law on the matter omitted was accurately stated in the eighth instruction. The evidence was such as to have rightly carried the issues to the jury, and the judgment is — Affirmed.