Roe v. Kurtz
| Decision Date | 26 October 1926 |
| Docket Number | 37394 |
| Citation | 210 N.W. 550,203 Iowa 906 |
| Parties | A. E. ROE, Appellant, v. FRANK KURTZ, Appellee |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
REHEARING DENIED APRIL 7, 1927.
Appeal from Washington District Court.--H. F. WAGNER, Judge.
Action to recover damages resulting from an automobile collision. The court directed the jury to return a verdict for the defendant, and the plaintiff appeals.
Reversed.
W. M Keeley, for appellant.
Livingston & Eicher, for appellee.
STEVENS J. DE GRAFF, C. J., and FAVILLE and VERMILION, JJ., concur.
Main Street and Avenue D interest and cross each other, in the residential section of the city of Washington. About 9 or 9:30 A. M. on a rainy day in December, 1923, a collision occurred on the intersection above referred to, which resulted in serious damage to a Ford truck owned by appellant, and severe injuries to I. E. Mitchell, the driver thereof. This action is to recover damages therefor. A motion for a directed verdict in favor of the defendant upon the ground of contributory negligence on the part of the driver of appellant's truck was sustained by the court, at the close of appellant's case, and we therefore have only appellant's version of what occurred. From the testimony introduced in his behalf, it appears, and the jury might have so found, that the driver of the Ford truck was proceeding eastward south of and near the center of Main Street, which was paved, and that, as he approached the intersection, he looked south and forward, but did not look to the north for a motor vehicle approaching the intersection from that direction; that he was traveling at the rate of about 15 miles per hour; that, just after he entered the intersection, the truck was struck on the left side, immediately in the rear of the front wheel, by a Dodge touring car driven by appellee at about 15 miles per hour; that Mitchell did not see appellee's car until an instant before the collision occurred, which was not in time to do anything to avoid the accident; that possibly appellee's car first entered the intersection, but the interval that elapsed before appellant's car reached the intersection could not have exceeded the fraction of a second; that the streets are each 30 feet in width between the curbs; and that there was nothing to obstruct the view of the driver of either vehicle. The claimed contributory negligence of the driver of appellant's car is the only question discussed by counsel.
It is conceded that the driver of appellant's car had the right of way, under the provisions of Section 5035, Code of 1924, which is as follows:
"Where two vehicles are approaching on any public street or highway so that their paths will intersect and there is danger of collision, the vehicle approaching the other from the right shall have the right of way provided, however, that such vehicles coming from alleys and private drives, where view is obstructed, shall stop immediately before entering a public street or highway."
Under this statute, it was his duty to look to the right, to determine whether another vehicle was approaching the intersection from that direction, to which he was bound to yield the right of way. The question therefore is: Did his failure to look to the left, under the circumstances of this case, as a matter of law, amount to contributory negligence on his part? Recognizing the danger to life and property incident to the operation of motor vehicles at street intersections, the legislature undertook, by the enactment of the foregoing statute, to minimize, and, so far as possible to prevent, accidents at such places. The statute does not impose the duty on the driver of a motor vehicle who is approaching a street intersection on the left side to stop and wait for one having the right of way who has not yet reached the intersection, until the vehicle driven by him has passed; but there can be no question but that it is the duty of the driver on the left, who is approaching an intersection simultaneously with...
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