178 Iowa 615 | Iowa | 1916
The accident in question occurred at Iowa City, on July 11, 1912, at 6:30 P. M. The defendant operates an interurban railway between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. The plaintiff was a resident of Iowa City, and lived near the line of railway at the place of the accident. The collision occurred at the intersection of the railroad with Burlington Street, which runs east and west, and intersects the railway line at right angles. The interurban car was proceeding south, 10 minutes behind its scheduled time. According to the time-table, a car was at that time due from the south. From Burlington Street, the view of the railway track towards the north was obstructed by houses and other buildings to a marked degree. The view was also greatly obstructed towards the south, but to a less extent. The plaintiff resided close by, and was familiar with the general conditions. At the time in question, he was driving his automobile along Burlington Street west, towards his home. As he approached the crossing, he slowed down to a speed of from 4 to 6 miles per hour. At a point approximately 30 feet from the track, he looked and listened for a car. He looked first to the north, but saw none. At that point, his possible view up the railway track was less than 100 feet. He then looked to the south and was looking south as he drove upon the track, at which
The grounds of negligence charged in the petition were that the defendant was operating the car at an unlawful and dangerous rate of speed; that no gong or whistle was sounded, as required by statute, and that no signals of any kind were given; that, in view of the dangerous character of the crossing and the great amount of travel passing over the same, the defendant ought to have maintained a flagman at such crossing, or some automatic signal device to warn travelers of the approach of the car. There was evidence in support of all these grounds of alleged negligence. The appellant does not question here the sufficiency of the evidence to go to the jury on such questions. Its more important contention here is that, under the undisputed evidence, the plaintiff himself was guilty of contributory negligence, in that he drove his vehicle upon the track immediately in front of the oncoming ear, when he could have seen the danger in time to prevent it, if he had looked north at that instant. To this question, we give our first attention.
‘1Q. I overlooked to ask you whether these equipments to ring the bell were in use in 1912? A. I presume that they were, because they were equipment here when I came down here in March, 1913. (Defendant moves to strike out the answer as irrelevant, incompetent and immaterial; overruled; exception saved. Now defendant moves to strike out all of the testimony of this witness upon these signal devices as used upon the Rock Island Railroad, for the reason that the testimony was all directed to the -present time, and hasn’t any bearing upon whether such apparatus was used in the year 1912 or not, and is wholly immaterial in the controversy before this court. By the court: Overruled; exception saved.) ’’
To this objection, counsel for plaintiff made the following statement to the court: “We will connect that by further witnesses. ”
Thereupon, the court overruled the motion. The appellant assigns error upon the failure of the court to sustain each of the foregoing motions. The witness in question was the roadmaster of the Rock Island Lines. His' testimony descriptive of the device in use was proper, as far as it went. His answer, however, to the redirect question above quoted, was objectionable, and the motion to strike it might very properly have been sustained. Considering, however, the
The judgment below must therefore be affirmed.— Affirmed.