Opinion ID: 668214
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Excessive Speed as the Proximate Cause of the Accident

Text: 22 It appears that the sole basis for the trial judge's decision to grant appellee's motion for a judgment as a matter of law was his belief that appellants' expert conceded that the collision would have occurred even if the Metrobus had been travelling 30 m.p.h., the proper speed limit. Seeing no dispute on this issue, the trial judge held that appellants failed to prove proximate cause, a required element of negligence. We cannot agree. As the trial judge correctly noted, whether the bus' excessive speed proximately caused the collision ordinarily [is] ... a question of fact, and only if it is absolutely clear that the driver's negligence could not have been a proximate cause is it a question of law. See Memorandum Opinion, Metro App. 81 (citing Belle Isle Cab Co., Inc. v. Pruitt, 187 Md. 174, 49 A.2d 537, 540 (1946)). On the record in this case, it is far from absolutely clear that the accident would have taken place even had the Metrobus been travelling the posted speed limit. Whether the accident was inevitable at the lower speed hinges on factual variables that were clearly in dispute at trial, and thus the question whether excessive speed was a proximate cause of the collision was properly one for the jury to decide. We therefore reverse. 23 We begin by recognizing those facts that we must construe in appellants' favor. First, we accept that the Metrobus in this case was travelling approximately 50 m.p.h. when it began skidding. The jury plainly accepted appellants' proof on this point, and both the trial judge and Metro conceded that the evidence was sufficient to support this conclusion. See id. (There was a factual dispute as to whether the bus was speeding immediately prior to the collision. The jury apparently determined that the driver was exceeding the speed limit and that determination certainly is fairly supported by the evidence in the case.); Brief for Appellee at 17 (WMATA acknowledges ... that the jury's determination that the bus driver exceeded the speed limit was supported by legally sufficient evidence.). Second, while there was a factual dispute at trial as to the origin of many of the skid marks identified on the scene, there is sufficient evidence to support the determination by appellants' expert, Dr. Wu, that the Metrobus left 20 feet of skid marks before hitting the Camaro (pre-impact skid marks). Third, both parties' experts generally agreed that 2.5 seconds was the approximate PRB time. 24 The disputed issue in this appeal is whether, taking the factual predicates of Dr. Wu's analysis as true, only one conclusion is reasonable--that the accident could not have been avoided if the Metrobus had been travelling 30 m.p.h. Using Dr. Wu's numbers, if the Metrobus was moving 50 m.p.h. when its brakes locked, then we must also accept that the driver, reacting properly, first perceived the danger of hitting the Camaro at least 185 feet before it began skidding. This is true because a bus moving 50 m.p.h. travels 74 ft./s. Multiplying 74 ft./s by the 2.5 seconds it took for the Metrobus driver to perceive the danger, react, and activate the brakes equals 185 feet (Dr. Wu apparently rounded this number up to 190 feet). Adding this number to 20 (the distance the bus skidded before impact) equals 205 feet--the distance the driver would have been from the crash when he first started to react. 25 With this information, we can ask the operative question: if the Metrobus had been going 30 m.p.h., rather than 50 m.p.h., could the driver have stopped the bus before it hit the Camaro? Speed is the only variable we can alter, because Dr. Wu's determination that there were 20 feet of pre-impact skid marks is based on sufficient physical evidence, and the distance at which the driver perceived the danger (185 feet from the point the brakes locked in this case) is derived from the actual speed of the Metrobus, which even Metro concedes is adequately supported by the record. Having given appellants the benefit of all sustainable factual inferences, we now can consider whether a jury could have found that the excessive speed of the Metrobus proximately caused the accident with the Camaro. 26 Taking Dr. Wu's testimony in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, which the District Court was obliged to do, mathematical analysis demonstrates that if the Metrobus were travelling the speed limit, there would have been ample time to avoid the crash. It is undisputed that a vehicle going 30 m.p.h. moves 44 ft./s. Multiplying the rate of speed by the 2.5 second PRB time shows that the brakes would have locked 110 feet from where the driver first perceived the possibility of an accident (205 feet from impact in this case) had the Metrobus been going 30 m.p.h. Therefore, unless a 30 m.p.h. bus will skid 95 feet after its brakes lock (205 feet minus 110 feet), a contention no one makes, the Metrobus driver could have avoided the accident had he observed the speed limit. 27 Dr. Wu's so-called concession, relied upon by the trial judge--that a bus travelling 30 m.p.h. which locks its brakes 20 feet before impact would not have been able to avoid colliding with the Camaro--is irrelevant. At several points in his testimony Dr. Wu did indeed suggest that at 30 m.p.h. a bus would leave 21 feet of skid marks before stopping, one foot more than the 20 feet of pre-impact skid marks Wu identified at the scene of this accident. However, this point, as Dr. Wu repeatedly explained, was not a concession at all, but merely an accurate response on cross-examination to a flawed hypothetical question posed by counsel for Metro. Counsel asked Wu whether the accident was unavoidable, assuming the bus was going 30 m.p.h. and assuming 20 feet of pre-impact skid marks. This hypothetical assumes the result it was designed to prove--that the Metrobus was too close to the Camaro for its driver to avoid a crash, even at 30 m.p.h. The problem with the question is that it fails to recognize that at the lower speed the Metrobus would not have begun skidding at the same point it did at the higher speed, because the bus would not have travelled as far from the reaction point at the lower speed. Even accepting that a 30 m.p.h. bus might skid over 20 feet, as Dr. Wu seemed to do, that skid would not necessarily be pre-impact. Dr. Wu repeatedly explained that the hypothetical was structured using assumptions that made a crash unavoidable at 30 m.p.h., but that he rejected those assumptions as contrary to the evidence. 28 To determine if the accident was inevitable at the speed limit, thus negating the possibility that excessive speed was a proximate cause, it is not enough to show a 30 m.p.h. bus would skid more than 20 feet. One must also know when the driver first perceives the danger. A bus moving 30 m.p.h. will travel a shorter distance in 2.5 seconds than one moving 50 m.p.h. Therefore, if the Metrobus were a substantial distance from the point of impact, the driver would have had plenty of time to react, lock the brakes, skid 21 feet, and stop short of impact. If the bus was closer, then it might be impossible to stop. To be precise, a bus driver travelling 30 m.p.h. when he perceives a car 131 feet or less away (110 ft. PRB time plus 21 ft. skid) will not be able to avoid a collision. This is so because the driver cannot react quickly enough to engage the brakes in time to stop. But, if a bus driver is more than 131 feet away when he perceives danger, he will be able to stop his bus and avoid a crash. In other words, if the Metrobus driver perceived the Camaro at 131 feet or less, excessive speed was not a proximate cause of the collision; but at a greater distance excessive speed might be, as the bus driver could have stopped if he had been going the speed limit. By assuming hypothetically not only that the bus was going 30 m.p.h., but that it began skidding at the same point that the 50 m.p.h. Metrobus in fact did, Metro's counsel also assumed, without any factual basis for doing so, that the bus driver began reacting when the bus was 131 feet from the Camaro. 29 In contrast, Dr. Wu calculated the distance from perception to brake-lock based on the physical evidence at the accident scene. After analyzing the Metrobus' post-impact skid marks, Wu estimated that the bus was moving 50 m.p.h. He also marked the point where he believed the bus began skidding. Using these factors, he calculated how far the Metrobus travelled in 2.5 seconds (the PRB time), and arrived at 190 feet. There is little doubt that if a bus going 30 m.p.h. locked its brakes at the same point Wu identified for the 50 m.p.h. Metrobus, it would have been unable to avoid the collision. But this tells us nothing, because we do not know whether a 30 m.p.h. vehicle would have locked its brakes at the same point as a 50 m.p.h. Metrobus. The answer to that question necessarily depends on how far the bus was from impact when its driver perceived the danger, and that question was clearly in dispute at trial. At trial, appellant offered evidence that the Metrobus driver perceived the Camaro 185 feet from the point at which he locked the brakes. The jury was entitled to accept his expert testimony, and at that distance it is evident a bus could have avoided the collision if it were travelling the speed limit. Therefore, the jury was free to conclude that speeding was a proximate cause of this accident. 30