W. O. Barnes sued the Central of Georgia Railway Company for damages because of the alleged negligence of the defendant in demolishing his automobile and in injuring his wife, thereby causing him to lose her services and expend large sums of money for medical expenses. The defendant demurred to the petition as setting forth no cause of action and as showing that the injury to the wife was caused by her lack of ordinary care. The court overruled the demurrer, and the defendant excepted pendente lite, and assigns error thereon. The defendant denied the allegations of the plaintiff’s petition, and the case went to trial before a jury. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for $3,000, and the defendant moved for a new trial. To the overruling of the motion the defendant excepted. Reid:
1. A petition alleging that plaintiff’s wife, while driving plaintiff’s automobile within the corporate limits of a city, approached a public railroad crossing at a speed of about six miles an hour; that there were eight or ten side-tracks at this crossing and two main-line tracks of the defendant; that plaintiff’s wife looked carefully both ways on approaching the crossing to see if a train was coming; that on account of buildings and trees her view was entirely obstructed as to any train approach
(а) Where a train is run at a crossing at a rate of speed in excess of that to which it is limited by ordinance, it is negligence per se, and the railroad company is liable if such speed is the proximate cause of the injury. Central of Ga. Ry. Co. v. Tribble, 112 Ga. 863 (38 S. E. 356); Bugg v. Ledford, 35 Ga. App. 647 (134 S. E. 330); Dozier v. Central of Ga. Ry. Co., 12 Ga. App. 753 (78 S. E. 469).
(б) The attempt of the plaintiff’s wife, who was not aware of the approach of the train, to cross these tracks at this crossing can not, as a matter of law, be said to constitute such contributory negligence as will bar a recovery. Reed v. Southern Ry. Co., supra; Central of Ga. Ry. Co. v. Hewell, 42 Ga. App. 623 (157 S. E. 101). The case at bar is clearly distinguishable from Peeples v. L. & N. R. Co., 37 Ga. App. 87 (139 S. E. 85), and Cox v. Central of Ga. Ry. Co., 38 Ga. App. 88 (143 S. E. 444). See Central of Ga. Ry. Co. v. Hewell, supra.
(c) Where one is confronted with a sudden emergency, without sufficient time to determine with certainty the best course to pursue, he is not held to the same accuracy of judgment as would be required of him if he had time for deliberation. Southwestern R. Co. v. Paulk, 24 Ga. 356; Smith v. W. & T. R. Co., 83 Ga. 675 (10 S. E. 361); Atlanta, Knoxville &c. Ry. Co. v. Roberts, 116 Ga. 505, 508 (42 S. E. 753); Pacetti v. Central of Ga. Ry. Co., 6 Ga. App. 97 (64 S. E. 302); A. C. L. R. Co. v. Daniels, 8 Ga. App. 775 (70 S. E. 203); Napier v. DuBose, 45 Ga. App. 661 (165 S. E. 773).
(d) Questions of negligence and proximate cause are questions to be determined by the jury, and unless the petition leaves the case so that no reasonable or rational mind could draw any inference but that the wife of the plaintiff below was negligent to the extent of being wanting in ordinary care for her own safety, the demurrer to the petition on this ground was properly overruled. Central of Ga. Ry. Co. v. Larsen, 19 Ga. App. 413 (91 S. E. 517); Central of Ga. Ry. Co. v. Barnett, 35 Ga. App. 528 (134 S. E. 126); Reed v. Southern Ry. Co., supra; Southern Ry. Co. v. Slaton, 41 Ga. App. 759 (154 S. E. 718).
(e) It follows that the court properly overruled the demurrer.
2. While it is true that unless the acts of negligence of the defendant are wilful or wanton, they will not authorize a recovery of damages where the resulting injury consists only in shock, fright, or mental pain and suffering (Hines v. Evans, 25 Ga. App. 829, 105 S. E. 59, and cit.), yet where such fright, shock, or mental suffering is attended with actual immediate physical injury, or follows therefrom as a direct consequence, such fright or mental suffering can itself be considered, together with the accompanying physical injury, wherein only wrongful acts of negligence are involved. Williamson v. Central of Ga. Ry. Co., 127 Ga. 125 (56 S. E. 119). In the instant ease there was evidence that the plaintiff’s wife was injured by pieces of the automobile striking her, and that from this injury and the fact that she so narrowly escaped death by being run over by the train, she has suffered fright, nervousness, and physical and mental pain and suffering, thereby causing the plaintiff to lose her services as alleged.
3. The plaintiff submitted competent evidence tending to establish the allegations of his petition, which set forth a cause of action, and, the jury having returned a verdict in his favor, this court will not hold that the verdict was unauthorized by the evidence and contrary to law. The grounds of the amendment to the motion for a new trial are only general in their nature, and attack the verdict as being contrary to the evidence and to the law. The court properly overruled the motion for a new trial. Judgment affirmed.