The plaintiff’s evidence tended to show that she, a passenger on the defendant’s westward train arriving in Ludlow about eight thirty o’clock in the morning, alighted from the train and walked westerly along the station platform to the west end thereof, and then in the same direction along the south side of the track to a point opposite a flight of stone steps, situated on the northerly side of the track leading down the bank to the public street, by which the railroad was there paralleled; that these stone steps are on the land of the railroad company, and with a path across the track and along the south side thereof constitute the usual and customary approach to the station platform for passengers on foot coming from and going to the highways in the village of Ludlow, and have been so used for more than forty years; that the plaintiff was travelling in this path toward the stone steps when injured; that when she arrived at the point in said path on the south side of the track almost opposite the stone steps, she halted, looked up and down the tracks; that she saw the train from which she had just alighted standing beside the platform, and saw standing still on the track a freight train the rear end of which was, as stated by one witness, about twenty feet westerly of the path across the track to the stone steps, but according to plaintiff’s testimony it was much farther away; that seeing the two trains as stated, and “thinking the coast was clear,” she “made a quick pass to go across” the track in the path toward the steps, and as she stepped upon the track the freight train was suddenly started backward, without warning of any kind that it was about to be moved, the rear ear striking her, knocked her
The defendant’s evidence tended to show that the freight train was not standing still during the time the passengers were leaving the other train and the platform, but was backing at a speed of about- six miles an hour toward the station on the same track there occupied by the passenger train, from a point several hundred feet westerly thereof, the conductor being on ”the back platform of the rear car to give warning; that the plaintiff was walking beside the track towards the stone steps, and when the train was a short distance from her, she, without looking, started to cross the track, whereupon the conductor shouted to her, but, as she did not heed the warning, he then endeavored to get down the steps and push her off the track, and seeing he could not do so, he jumped off the train and signalled the engineer to stop; that the engineer could not then stop the train in season to avoid hitting her.
The defendant moved for a verdict on the grounds, among others, that' upon the evidence the accident occurred through the contributory negligence of the plaintiff; and that upon all the evidence there was no issue for the jury. Was the overruling of this motion error? is one of the questions before us.
It is said that the plaintiff, as a witness, testified that the only time she looked up the track and saw the freight train was when she was some distance easterly of the point opposite the stone steps — within a few steps of the platform — and consequently. notwithstanding other evidence introduced by her
It is argued that with the plaintiff’s knowledge of the conditions at Ludlow station, she was aware that the freight train must back up to let the other train pass, as there was no siding west of the station, affording a means of such passing, and that, having an impairment of hearing, to go upon the railroad track without taking further notice of the freight, train should be held as a matter of law to be contributory negligence, preventing recovery. This position is taken, relying upon the well established rule in this State requiring a person about to cross a railroad track to look and listen for an approaching train and
On the degree of care to be exercised by the defendant after the plaintiff alighted from the train, the court charged the jury that the carrier of passengers is bound to use the utmost care and caution which may be reasonably expected of 'a careful and prudent man in like circumstances — that in short the plaintiff was a passenger not only while leaving the car, but also while rightfully leaving the company’s station, and the platform, path, or way, provided by it for passing from the station to the highway over its own property; and if the company has provided a way of passage for exit from its station over its tracks, and invites its passengers either expressly or impliedly to use such way in leaving its station to reach the street, it owes the same duty as it owes to a passenger or passengers who are passing' along the platform. In other words, this charge required the defendant to exercise the same degree of care toward the plaintiff after she alighted from the train and was leaving the station, going across the defendant’s premises to the public highway, as whqn she was a passenger upon its train. To this an exception was saved. The charge in this respect seems to be in accordance with the rule which obtains in some jurisdictions, that the duty of the carrier to a passenger is to exercise the highest degree of care at all times while that relation exists — from the time a person becomes a passenger until he ceases to be such by the completion of his journey, and he has left the carrier’s premises (See Fremont, etc. R. Co. v. Hagblad, 72 Neb. 773, 101 N. W. 1033, 106 N. W. 1041, 4 L. R. A. (N. S.) 254, 9 Ann. Cas. 1096; Brackett v. Southern Ry., 88 S. Car. 447, 70 S. E. 1026,.Ann. Cas. 1912 C. 1212); but such is not the law of this State. In Beard v. Conn. & Pass. Rivers R. Co., cited above, the plaintiff was injured in going down a certain open stairway in defendant’s depot where she had gone in the evening to take a train which she had been informed
From the carrier of passengers the law requires the highest degree of care respecting the roadbed, the machinery, the cars, the appliances, and the running of trains, because negligence in such respects is likely to result in great bodily harm, and in many instances loss of life, to those using that means of conveyance. But as to approaches to the cars, such as the platform, the halls, stairways or the like, and as to paths across the station grounds accustomed to be used by passengers under the company’s implied invitation, in passing between the station and the public highway, as in this case, a less degree of care' is allowed, because the consequences of negligence in respect thereof are naturally much less serious in nature, the degree of care being measured by what may reasonably be expected, considering the consequences which may follow, rather than solely by the relation of carrier and passenger. Briggs v. Taylor, 28 Vt. 180, 187; Moreland v. Boston & Providence R. R., 141 Mass. 31, 6 N. E. 225. In this Massachusetts case, after stating how the degree of care is to be measured, the court said that a railroad company would not act reasonably if it did not exercise greater care in equipping and running its trains than in respect to the condition of its station grounds. This Court said in Fassett v. Roxbury, 55 Vt. 552, that “care and prudence always vary according to the exigencies that require vigilance and attention, conforming in amount and degree to the particular circumstances in which they are to be exercised.” And in Parker v. Boston & Maine Railroad, 84 Vt. 329, 79 Atl. 865, that the rule does not mean “that the same degree of care is required in all cases, but means, when rightly understood, that the degree of care required in the particular case must be such as is commensurate with the circumstances that call for its exercise.”
We think upon principle and by the great- weight of authority, the carrier does what is reasonably necessary to ensure the safety of those who as passengers have alighted from the train at the station of their destination and are leaving the sta
It is said, however, that even though the charge was érroneous in the respect named, the error was cured by the supplemental charge, to which no exception was saved. But this can hardly be so, for the supplemental charge was in amendment of another part of the charge, and is confined to the duty of the conductor after 'he discovered the plaintiff on the track in a place of danger and the train moving toward her, if it was, “in the emergency — if there was an emergency.” In connection therewith the court gave further instructions regarding the duty of the plaintiff in such emergency. Nothing further.
Concerning the defendant’s seventh request that, “If the defendant gave a warning at the time of the accident which would have allowed a person hearing and heeding it to have
The other questions presented are not likely to arise on another trial.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.