Banghart v. Meredith

• Decision Date: 10 December 1940
• Docket Number: No. 45315.,45315.
• Citation: 229 Iowa 608,294 N.W. 918
• Parties: BANGHART v. MEREDITH.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

229 Iowa 608
294 N.W. 918

BANGHART
v.
MEREDITH.

No. 45315.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 10, 1940.

Appeal from District Court, Polk County; Loy Ladd, Judge.

Action at law for damages resulting from automobile collision. From judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

Miller, Huebner & Miller and Charles W. Joiner, all of Des Moines, for appellant.

Mills, Hewitt & Diltz, of Des Moines, for appellee.

OLIVER, Justice.

This action arose out of a daytime intersection automobile collision at University Avenue and 20th Street, in Des Moines, Iowa. These were paved streets, respectively 51 and 45 feet wide. At the corners of this intersection were red and green light traffic control signals. Plaintiff had driven his Ford coupe east on University Avenue and had made a (left) turn to the north on 20th Street when an Oldsmobile sedan, which defendant was driving west on University Avenue, struck the Ford at about the rear end of the right running board. Trial to a jury resulted in verdict and judgment for plaintiff and defendant has appealed. The single error assigned is that the court erred in refusing to direct a verdict against plaintiff on the ground that he was guilty

[294 N.W. 919]

of contributory negligence as a matter of law.

The provisions of Code of Iowa 1939 especially pertinent are as follows:

“5026.02 Turning left at intersection. The driver of a vehicle within an intersection intending to turn to the left shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or so close thereto as to constitute an immediate hazard, but said driver, having so yielded and having given a signal when and as required by this chapter, may make such left turn and the drivers of all other vehicles approaching the intersection from said opposite direction shall yield the right-of-way to the vehicle making the left turn.”

“5025.04 When signal required. No person shall turn a vehicle from a direct course upon a highway unless and until such movement can be made with reasonable safety and then only after giving a clearly audible signal by sounding the horn if any pedestrian may be affected by such movement or after giving an appropriate signal in the manner hereinafter provided in the event any other vehicle may be affected by such movement.”

“5025.05 Signal continuous. A signal of intention to turn right or left shall be given continuously during not less than the last one hundred feet traveled by the vehicle before turning.”

“5025.08 Method of giving hand and arm signals. * * *

1. Left turn.-Hand and arm extended horizontally.”

5023.04 Requires the driver to have his car under control and reduce the speed to a reasonable and proper rate-when approaching and traversing a crossing.

[1] In passing upon the error assigned, the evidence and such inferences as may be reasonably drawn therefrom must be considered in the light most favorable to plaintiff. Moreover, it must be remembered that defendant does not, in this appeal, question the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the finding of the jury that his negligence was the proximate cause of the accident.

The only vehicles upon University Avenue in that vicinity immediately prior to the accident were the two automobiles in question and a street sprinkler near the north curb a short distance east of the intersection. As plaintiff's car traveling east reached the intersection he stopped it momentarily as the...