73 N.Y.S. 856 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1902
It may be assumed, in view-of the reason assigned for dismissing the complaint, that the defendant’s counsel was impressed with the fact that a prima facie case had been made out,, bearing upon the defendant’s negligence. Whether he was or not, however, we think, from the evidence presented, that the motorman should have seen the plaintiff, who was in full view, endeavoring to cross the avenue to enable her to be in a position to take the car,, and that it was incumbent upon him either to slow down to avoid an accident, or else to give her some warning of his intention to proceed with undiminished speed. He, however, did neither, but, in-response to the signal made by the son to stop, pointed over his shoulder; thus probably intimating that the car was not to stop to take on passengers at that place, and that the son must wait for the next car. But that such intimation had been given was unknown to the plaintiff. The testimony, therefore, that the motorman continued to approach the crossing at full or very rapid speed, without ringing any bell or giving any warning, at a time when the plaintiff was passing across the track with a view to reaching the sidewalk, where she could board the car, and after he had the opportunity to see her when he was over half a block away, was sufficient evidence from which the jury might infer that he failed to observe that duty which, he owed to her.
We are thus brought to consider the evidence from the standpoint from which the court viewed it in dismissing the complaint on the ground that the plaintiff had failed to show that she was free from contributory negligence. We do not understand the rule to be, with-respect to the rapid passage of electric cars, that a person seeing a car in the distance is obliged to wait until it has passed and cars-are no longer in sight; for, with the short headway between cars,, there is hardly a moment of the day when there would be such a situation. On the contrary, we have many times held that pedestrians are entitled to a reasonable use of the streets and street crossings, and, when exercising such rights, they are justified in assuming that those managing the cars will respect them. If this is not the rule, and motormen are not required to observe some care in allowing pedestrians the reasonable use of streets and crossings, then, should they desire to cross our busy streets and avenues, in which electric cars are constantly passing, they could never get over, or, i£ they did, it would only be at the risk of life and limb. Here, before proceeding, the plaintiff had'observed the position of the approaching car, which, when she was near the track, she saw half a block away, and observed at that moment the signal given by her son to stop it. To board the car, which ran close to the sidewalk, it was necessary that she should be on the sidewalk opposite the north crossing; and,.
Upon the whole case, therefore, we think that the question of contributory negligence, as well as of the defendant’s negligence, should -have been submitted to the jury, and that the dismissal of the complaint at the close of the plaintiff’s case was error, for which the judgment should be reversed, and a new trial ordered, with costs to the appellant to abide the event.
■ HATCH and INGRAHAM, JJ., concur. VAN BRUNT, P. J., . and MCLAUGHLIN, J., dissent.