188 A. 181 | Pa. | 1936
Argued October 1, 1936. Plaintiff brought an action in trespass to recover for damages to his person and property sustained as a result of a collision between his automobile and that owned by the defendant. The accident occurred when defendant, proceeding in the same direction as plaintiff, sought to pass him. As defendant drew alongside of plaintiff the left rear tire of his car blew out, causing it *394 to swerve and come into contact with the plaintiff's car. The latter's theory at trial was that defendant was negligent in driving with defective tires. The jury found for plaintiff in the sum of $7,500. The court below granted defendant a new trial on the ground that the verdict was excessive, but refused his motion for a judgment n. o. v. Its ruling on the latter motion is here for review.
This case presents but another factual situation presenting in terms of realities the abstract legal principle that the owner of a motor vehicle must excercise such care with respect to it as not to subject others to unreasonable risk of injury from its operation. There are numerous precaustions which an owner must take to make that instrumentality reasonably safe and appropriate for use on the public highways. If he chooses to entrust the operation of the vehicle to another, he cannot knowingly place it in the hands of an incompetent driver:Thatcher v. Pierce,
This court has held that it is negligence to drive an auto equipped with inadequate headlights (Serfas v. Lehigh NewEngland R. R. Co.,
It is common experience that the blow-out of an automobile tire is a hazardous occurrence. A blow-out has a known tendency to cause the vehicle to swerve and become unmanageable, rendering possible injury to others due to the lack of control. See Seligman v. Orth,
There is always a duty of reasonable inspection. "Generally speaking, it is the duty of one operating a motor vehicle on the public highways to see that it is in reasonably good condition and properly equipped, so that it may be at all times controlled, and not become a source of danger to its occupants or to other travelers. To this end, the owner or operator of a motor vehicle must exercise reasonable care in the inspection of the machine and is chargeable with notice of everything that such inspection would disclose": Huddy, Automobile Law, Volume 3-4, p. 127 et seq. See also Restatement, Torts, section 300. Where such an examination is made and fails to disclose the defects, the owner is relieved *396
from responsibility: Ormond v. Wisconsin Power Light Co., 216 N.W. 489,
It has been held in other states that the question whether a particular person is negligent in failing to know that his tires are in too poor a condition for ordinary operation on the highways is a question of fact for the jury: Campbell v.Spaeth,
On a motion for a judgment n. o. v. the testimony must be read in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. All conflicts in the testimony and all facts and inferences of fact pertaining to the issues involved which may be reasonably deduced from the evidence must be resolved in his favor:Mountain v. American Window Glass Co.,
The question was raised at bar whether plaintiff should not have had expert testimony to show that a tire in the condition testified to was dangerous. It would seem, however, that this is a matter as to which the ordinary man's experience is sufficient to enable him to make a sound judgment. In Kent v.General Chemical Co.,
Opinion evidence is to be rejected when the factual evidence in the case sufficiently informs the jury on the subject in issue so that they, as men of ordinary intelligence, may determine that question, or, conversely, opinion evidence is only admitted when the jury is incompetent to infer from the facts related to them or without the aid of one more skilled in the subject, the likelihood of an accident occurring from the facts proven or that a given effect will follow a given cause. See Dooner v. Delaware *398 Hudson Canal Co.,
A jury is just as well qualified to pass judgment as to the risk of danger in the condition of an article in universal use under a given state of facts as experts. We have in this state more than a million automobiles and trucks, approximately two for every three families. Their daily use over the highways is common, and requires a certain amount of knowledge of the movable parts, particularly the tires; it is imperative that a duty or standard of care be set up that will be productive of safety for other users of the highways. Any ordinary individual, whether a car owner or not, knows that when a tire is worn through to the fabric, its further use is dangerous and it should be removed. When worn through several plys, it is very dangerous for further use. All drivers must be held to a knowledge of these facts. An owner or operator cannot escape simply because he says he does not know. He must know. The hazard is too great to permit cars in this condition to be on the highway. It does not require opinion evidence to demonstrate that a trigger pulled on a loaded gun makes the gun a dangerous instrument when pointed at an individual, nor could one escape liability by saying he did not know it was dangerous. The use of a tire worn through to the fabric presents a similar situation. The rule must be rigid if millions are to drive these instrumentalities which in a fraction of a second may become instruments of destruction to life and property. There is no series of accidents more destructive or more terrifying in the use of automobiles than those which come from "blow-outs." The law requires *399 drivers and owners of motor vehicles to know the condition of those parts which are likely to become dangerous where the flaws or faults would be disclosed by a reasonable inspection. It will assume they do know of the dangers ascertainable by such examination.
Order affirmed.
