273 Pa. 570 | Pa. | 1922
Opinion by
Chestnut Street, an east and west street in the defendant borough of West Chester, crosses railroad tracks by an overhead bridge, reached by approaches at the ends. There is a retaining wall along the south side of the east approach, which, at the bridge, is fourteen feet high and capped by a coping, the top of which is eight inches higher than the surface of the street. Over the coping is a barrier consisting of a double row of galvanized iron pipe, supported by standards, the lower row being about sixteen and the upper one thirty-two inches above the coping. The approach is slightly wider than the bridge, and the adjoining section of the barrier, being about six feet long, curves in to the post at the corner of the bridge. For about a month prior to the accident in question the top rail of this section had been missing, which left the barrier at that point about two feet above the street. There was a sidewalk extending easterly from the bridge on the north side of the street, while on the south side there was no walk, but a grass plot six feet wide, over which the traveler must pass to reach the guard rail above mentioned. There was an arc light eighty feet to the west and another a considerable distance east, so that in the night the street and surrounding objects were plainly visible.
At about ten o’clock on the evening of August 11,1917, the plaintiff, John W. Payne, while loitering near the
In our opinion the case was rightly decided. It is the duty of a pedestrian upon a public street to look where he is going: Lerner v. Phila., 221 Pa. 294; Kennedy v. Phila., 220 Pa. 273; Robb v. Connellsville, 137 Pa. 42; Benton v. Phila., 198 Pa. 396; Beer v. Clarion Twp., 17 Pa. Superior Ct. 537; and see Auberle v. McKeesport, 179 Pa. 321. It was more incumbent upon plaintiff to look because of being crippled and a stranger there, and also because he was not walking in the cartway nor upon a sidewalk; for if the traveler must look where he is going, when using that portion of the highway prepared for him, he must certainly do so when straying outside thereof. Yet, it is perfectly evident plaintiff could have seen the coping, the standards, the guard rails, and the absence of the top rail, had he looked. He testified: “Q. You could see the lines of the railing in front of you? A. I just glanced at it. Q. You just glanced at it, and you had no difficulty in seeing the lines of the railing? A. No, sir. Q. So that if you had been looking at the point where this railing was, or ought to be, you would, of course, have seen there was no railing there? A. Cer
The order appealed from is affirmed.