18 A.2d 455 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1940
Argued October 3, 1940. This action grew out of the collision of two automobiles *80 in the early evening of October 9, 1938. Defendant maintains that as to John J. Moran, he is entitled to judgment notwithstanding the verdict in favor of that plaintiff. We are unable to find merit in either of defendant's contentions, that he was not negligent and that this plaintiff is chargeable with contributory negligence.
In the light of the verdict we have no difficulty in finding the following facts established by the testimony: Immediately before the collision, defendant's car was parked on the west side of Twenty-third Street in Philadelphia just south of the intersection of that street with Allegheny Avenue. Plaintiff was then driving his automobile eastwardly in Allegheny Avenue and as he approached the intersection, defendant backed his car northwardly into Allegheny Avenue and there struck plaintiff's car as it was passing through the intersection. Plaintiff was traveling in a street 54 feet wide along an east bound street car track which was about 17 feet from the south curb. Defendant's car, without the sounding of a horn or other warning backed into the intersection and struck the right side of plaintiff's automobile. Twenty-third Street is a two-way highway 42 feet wide from curb to curb. The collision occurred just after plaintiff had entered the intersection and it is a fair inference from the testimony that defendant backed his car northwardly into the intersection upon the west side of Twenty-third Street in the south bound traffic lane.
It is clear that even if defendant had been driving his car forward into the intersection along the west side of the street in that traffic lane, from a position south of Allegheny Avenue, he would have been chargeable with negligence. The Vehicle Code of May 1, 1929, P.L. 905, Art. X, § 1004, 75 PS 521 imposes a duty as follows: "Upon all highways of sufficient width, except upon one-way streets, the driver of a vehicle shall drive the same upon the right half of the highway *81
. . . . . . unless it is impracticable to travel on such side of the highway. . . . . . ." Regardless of the statute, driving an automobile on the left side of a two-way city street is evidence of negligence. Wilson v. Con. Dressed Beef Co.,
The defendant offered no testimony, and no greater burden rested on plaintiff than to present a case free from contributory negligence. "The rule that a plaintiff *82
must present a case clear of contributory negligence does not mean that, after proving affirmatively that the defendant's negligence caused the injury, he must prove negatively that he himself was not guilty of negligence that contributed to the result": Clark v. Lancaster,
The testimony in this case is meagre but in essentials supports plaintiff's right of recovery.
Judgment affirmed.