118 Wash. 327 | Wash. | 1922
— This action grows out of a collision between a Ford automobile truck owned and driven by the respondent, and a street car owned and operated by the appellant, city of Seattle. The collision occurred at the junction of Bast Union street and Nineteenth avenue, both public streets of the appellant city.
The respondent’s version of the surrounding conditions and of the manner in which the accident happened is the version, of course, that the jury had the right to believe. His story is in substance this: As he approached Union street, the scene of the accident, he was traveling at a speed of about twelve miles an hour — at no time exceeding fifteen miles per hour. On
There was evidence, negative in its nature, tending to show that the street car gong was not sounded, and
The question then is, was the respondent guilty of such contributory negligence as to preclude a recovery? It is our conclusion that he was. A driver of an automobile on approaching a street car track for the purpose of crossing must make a reasonable use of his senses to guard his own safety, and a failure so to do is negligence. Bowden v. Walla Walla Valley R. Co., 79 Wash. 184, 140 Pac. 549.
“A driver of an automobile may not deliberately drive upon the street car track which is open and apparent, and excuse himself by saying that he looked and did not see that which no one could avoid seeing if he had looked; or that he was giving his attention to his machine, when common prudence demanded that he give some part of his attention to his own safety.” Herrett v. Puget Sound T., L. & P. Co., 103 Wash. 101, 173 Pac. 1024.
In this instance the respondent has not the excuse of looking and failing to see. As said by his learned counsel:
“The undisputed evidence is that the respondent as he approached, but before he arrived at the property line, looked to the right, that is, westward up East Union street. He did not see the car on East Union at that time. It (the car) undoubtedly was at some point on East Union east of Eighteenth avenue and west of the alley, so that he could not see the street car at that moment because the billboards on the northwest corner obstructed his view. Had ho been on the property line he could have seen the street clear up to Eighteenth avenue, but he was not on the property line. He was*331 approaching the property line when he first looked." (The italics are counsel’s.)
The evidence also clearly shows that he did not again look for an approaching car until he had reached the zone of danger, too late to avoid a collision with the approaching car.
If.a driver of an automobile may not excuse himself from a charge of negligence by saying he looked and did not see that which no one could avoid seeing had he looked, manifestly he is equally guilty of negligence if he does not look at all, or what is the same thing, looks from a place where an obstruction prevents him from seeing.
The judgment is reversed, and remanded with instructions to dismiss the action.
Mitchell, Bridges, and Tolman, JJ., concur.