Cooley v. Baker, 102
| Citation | 58 S.E.2d 115,231 N.C. 533 |
| Decision Date | 08 March 1950 |
| Docket Number | No. 102,102 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina |
| Parties | COOLEY, v. BAKER et al. |
Cooley & May, Nashville, for plaintiff, appellee.
Wilkinson & King, Rocky Mount, for defendant, William Thomas Baker, appellant.
This appeal raises the question whether the complaint affirmatively alleges facts showing actionable negligence on the part of the defendant Baker.
When the complaint is stripped of its legal conclusions, it becomes evident that the plaintiff relies upon the following factual averments to establish liability on the part of Baker:
Immediately before the accident Baker was driving his Ford truck southward on his right-hand half of South Church Street, and Bizzell was operating his Pontiac Sedan northward along his right-hand side of the same thoroughfare. Baker turned his Ford truck to the left for the purpose of entering a service station situated on the east side of South Church Street without giving Bizzell, the driver of the approaching Pontiac Sedan, any signal of his intention to make such left turn. At that time the distance between the Ford truck and the Pontiac Sedan was 'approximately 300 yards.' The Pontiac Sedan traversed the intervening 'distance of approximately 300 yards * * * at a speed of approximately 70 miles per hour,' and collided with the Ford truck before Baker 'could complete his left turn and cause the truck to enter the premises' of the service station. As a result of the collision, the plaintiff was seriously injured.
The Superior Court adjudged the complaint to charge actionable negligence against the defendant Baker on the hypothesis that its factual averments disclose these two essential elements: (1) That Baker was negligent in the management of the truck in that he undertook to make a left turn without observing the precautions prescribed by G.S. § 20-154; and (2) that his negligence in this respect blended with the concurrent negligence of Bizzell and thereby proximately resulted in injury to plaintiff. It is undoubted law that a motorist is negligent if he violates G.S. § 20-154, and that his negligence in that particular is actionable if it proximately causes injury to another. Banks v. Shepard, 230 N.C. 86, 52 S.E.2d 215; Conley v. Pearce-Young-Angel Co., 224 N.C. 211, 29 S.E.2d 740; Bechtler v. Bracken, 218 N.C. 515, 11 S.E.2d 721; Templeton v. Kelley, 216 N.C. 487, 5 S.E.2d 555; Holland v. Strader, 216 N.C. 436, 5 S.E.2d 311; Newbern v. Leary, 215 N.C. 134, 1 S.E.2d 384; Mason v. Johnston, 215 N.C. 95, 1 S.E.2d 379; Smith v. Carolina Coach Co., 214 N.C. 314, 199 S.E. 90; Murphy v. Asheville-Knoxville Coach Co., 200 N.C. 92, 156 S.E. 550.
G.S. § 20-154 is in these words:
'(a) The driver of any vehicle upon a highway before starting, stopping or turning from a direct line shall first see that such movement can be made in safety, and if any pedestrian may be affected by such movement shall give a clearly audible signal by sounding the horn, and whenever the operation of any other vehicle may be affected by such movement, shall give a signal as required in this section, plainly visible to the driver of such other vehicle, of the intention to make such movement.
'(b) The signal herein required shall be given by means of the hand and arm in the manner herein specified, or by any mechanical or electrical signal device approved by the department, except that when a vehicle is so constructed or loaded as to prevent the hand and arm signal from being visible, both to the front and rear, the signal shall be given by a device of a type which has been approved by the department.
'Whenever the signal is given the driver shall indicate his intention to start, stop, or turn by extending the hand and arm from and beyond the left side of the vehicle as hereinafter set forth.
'Left turn---hand and arm horizontal, forefinger pointing.
'Right turn---hand and arm pointed up-ward.
'Stop---hand and arm pointed downward.
'All signals to be given from left side of vehicle during last fifty feet traveled.'
In construing statutes, courts assume that legislators take note of the realities when they make laws. The General Assembly adopted. G.S. § 20-154 to regulate the movement of motor vehicles upon the public highways of the State. Its manifest object is to promote and not to obstruct vehicular travel. In the very nature of things, drivers of motor vehicles act on external appearances. These matters being true, the language of this statute must be accorded a reasonable and realistic interpretation to effect the legislative purpose.
The statutory provision that 'the driver of any vehicle upon a highway before * * * turning from a direct line shall first see that such movement can be made in safety' does not mean that a motorist may not make a...
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Tart v. Register, 530
...free from danger. Only reasonable care must be exercised in determining that the movement may be made in safety. Cooley v. Baker, 231 N.C. 533, 58 S.E.2d 115. The record clearly shows that Register was negligent, and it is true that a driver on the highway is under no duty to anticipate the......
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Wilson v. Camp, 171
...Hawes v. Atlantic Refining Co., 236 N.C. 643, 74 S.E.2d 17; Matheny v. Central Motor Lines, 233 N.C. 673, 65 S.E.2d 361; Cooley v. Baker, 231 N.C. 533, 58 S.E.2d 115. Finally, by assignment No. 9, the plaintiff alleges error in the definition of proximate cause and reasonable foreseeability......
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Clarke v. Holman, 355
...motorist must exercise reasonable care under existing conditions to ascertain that such movement can be made with safety. Cooley v. Baker, 231 N.C. 533, 58 S.E.2d 115; White v. Lacey, 245 N.C. 364, 96 S.E.2d 1; Williams v. Tucker, 259 N.C. 214, 130 S.E.2d 306; Farmers Oil Co. v. Miller, sup......
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