Weber v. Hansen
| Decision Date | 01 August 1950 |
| Docket Number | No. 47692,47692 |
| Citation | 43 N.W.2d 766,241 Iowa 904 |
| Parties | WEBER v. HANSEN. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
F. J. McGreevy, of Ackley, for appellant.
Carroll H. Wild, of Allison, for appellee.
Plaintiff, in an action at law, sought recovery of damages to his truck by reason of a collision between it and defendant's passenger automobile. The defendant filed a counterclaim. The cause was tried to the court. There were no claims for damages on the part of either party for personal injuries. The trial court held that both parties were guilty of negligence which contributed to the accident, denied any recovery by the plaintiff and also denied defendant's counterclaim. Judgment was entered against plaintiff in his action and against defendant on his counterclaim. The plaintiff filed a motion for new trial which was overruled. The defendant has not appealed from the judgment entered against him on his counterclaim. However, the plaintiff has appealed from the judgment entered against him and from the trial court's adverse ruling on his motion for a new trial.
There is no dispute in the evidence. The only issue is whether there is sufficient evidence to support the judgment entered by the trial court. The appellant claims that the decision is contrary to the evidence and the law.
The accident occurred on November 19, 1948 about 9:15 in the morning. The appellant was proceeding north on highway 65 in Franklin County. He was driving a gasoline truck used for making farm deliveries. There was a light rain falling at the time of the accident although prior thereto it had been raining harder. The evidence is undenied that immediately prior to the time of the collision the appellant had been driving his truck at a rate of speed of approximately 35 miles per hour. The appellee testified that he had been traveling approximately 60 miles an hour immediately prior to reaching the truck. The appellee first saw the gasoline truck when it was about a mile south of the place of the accident and it was within his view at all times until the time of the collision. To the south of the place of the accident there is a slight rise in the highway to the north on which there is a no passing zone for north bound traffic. At the place of the accident there are two farm houses on opposite sides of the highway and the driveways to these farmhouses are directly opposite each other. These driveways are 200 feet north of the north end of the nonpassing zone. The record shows that when the appellant, the driver of the truck, was at the top of the rise and at the end of the no passing zone the truck was approximately 100 feet ahead of the appellee. At this point the driver of the truck, began to slow down and this fact was indicated by the flashing on of stop lights on the rear of the truck. The left window of the cab of the truck was not open and it is undenied that the appellant did not give a hand signal. Upon the flashing of the stop signals on the truck, Hansen, the appellee, applied the brakes of his automobile. His testimony is that the brakes of the car grabbed or held as they were applied and as a result his car was pulled off the side of the pavement and on to the right shoulder. It left the pavement about 100 feet south of the point of collision and continued north on the shoulder up to the driveway into which the appellant was turning. A collision of the two vehicles resulted and the front ends of each were damaged. It is shown that the truck was proceeding at the rate of about 15 miles per hour as it moved into the driveway and was completely off the pavement at the time of the collision. Both vehicles were facing north off the paving, with the appellee's car further to the right after the collision. Hansen had had his car, a new one, about four days. He had stopped at a stop sign approximately 4 1/2 miles south of the place of the accident. He testified that at this point the brakes functioned properly. Weber, the driver of the truck, testified that he had an outside mirror on the left hand side and had looked into it and observed no car when he was 100-120 feet back from the driveway into which he turned and where the collision occurred.
It is the contention of the appellant, the driver of the truck, that the trial court was in error in its holding that he was guilty of contributory negligence because of his failure to signal his intention to make a right turn before applying his brakes. It is his claim that the failure to give a hand signal in no way contributed to the accident inasmuch as the appellee was at all times immediately to the rear of the truck or to the right of it as the brakes pulled it off to the shoulder. He maintains that the appellee would not have seen any hand signal, if it had been given, and that this claimed contributory negligence of the appellant in no way was the contributing factor to the accident and collision.
Our statutes applicable to the facts in this case provide as follows: Signals must be given by the driver of a motor vehicle of an intention to turn from a direct course upon a highway by giving appropriate hand signals when any other vehicle may be affected by such movement. Sections 321.314, 321.317, 321.318, 1950 code, I.C.A. A signal of intention to turn right or left is required to be given continuously during not less than the last one hundred feet traveled before turning. Section 321.315, 1950 code, I.C.A. The statute further provides that the driver shall not stop or suddenly decrease the speed of a vehicle without first giving an appropriate signal to the driver of any vehicle immediately to the rear when there is an opportunity to give such signal. Section 321.316, 1950 code, I.C.A.
I. The failure of the appellant to comply with a requirement of the statute as to the giving of a hand signal constitutes negligence per se except as hereinafter noted. Kneppe v. Huismann, 223 Iowa 569, 571, 272 N.W. 602. In Kisling v. Thierman, 214 Iowa 911,...
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