Opinion ID: 1109932
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: condition of highway at the time.

Text: (Hn 3) Marvin Harris, a highway patrolman, who had been stationed in Attala County for several years, followed the ambulance to the scene of this tragic accident. He gave attention first to the dead and injured and then made a thorough investigation of the scene. He said that the left wheels of the Plymouth at the point of impact were 2 1/2 or 3 feet north of the center line. There were no skidmarks behind it. Such marks of the Chevrolet were 72 feet long on the left and 50 feet on the right. The position of the cars could indicate that the Plymouth was turning to its right. On the right floor board of the Plymouth, where Brunt was sitting, he found a pint bottle of whiskey with a small amount taken out, an empty pint, and a broken but unopened fifth. He observed  mounds of dirt on the south side, one of which was more than 6 feet tall. Near this mound of dirt he saw the pump. It was definitely on the pavement. He measured from the center of the 21 foot pavement to the pump and the distance was 9 feet. Sand and dirt were on the south side of the paved portion of the highway from the pump east for a distance of 135 feet and this could obstruct traffic. There was a warning sign 125 or 130 yards west of the pump, but there were no flares between it and the one on the pavement beside the pump. In the 135 feet from the pump east there were 7 flares, all of which were on the pavement. It was 336 feet from the pump to the point of impact, and there was a flare 72 feet east of this point on the south side and several more near Peachtree Street, which was about 186 feet east of the place of impact. There were 5 flares on the north side from about opposite the pump and extending east. A motorist, driving east, would have his view completely cut off by the large mound of dirt in the deepest part of the curve, and a car coming from the east would be ascending a small hill. He had passed this project many times, and had seen the contractor discharging seepage upon and down the highway. A majority of the automobiles going east would pull over to the center as they went around the pump. He caught himself doing the same thing, even though he was familiar with the place, but he did not actually go across the center line. He said that the flares on the pavement on the south and those on the north side, 8 to 10 feet from the pavement, created an optical illusion, causing a motorist, who was driving east, to think that the traveled portion was farther to the north than it actually was. It so appeared to him at times, even though he was familiar with the condition. He had never seen the contractors clean off the pavement after they quit work. He testified as to differences of conditions obtaining the night of the collision with those which obtained on Sunday morning between 10 and 11 o'clock, as shown in certain  photographs which were taken on that and later occasions. Six witnesses, Trenton C. Cole, Ernest Burks, Eswin Dean, Bill Dodd, K.B. Fowler, Jr., and Mrs. Lillie D. Kerr, corroborated the evidence of Marvin Harris that the pump was on the pavement that night. Three witnesses, Leland Woods, Trenton C. Cole, and Ernest Burks, had seen the pump in the same place either on Thursday afternoon, Friday afternoon, Saturday morning or Saturday evening before the collision. Six witnesses, Roby McCool, Leland Woods, Trenton C. Cole, Lloyd McCrory, Ernest Burks, and Eswin Dean, gave corroboration as to the mud and dirt on the pavement over the period from Thursday afternoon until after the collision. Eswin Dean gave corroboration that the flares were on the pavement east of the pump. Three witnesses, Trenton C. Cole, Eswin Dean, and W.T. Wasson, gave corroboration that a driver, because of the lights on both sides of the road, could not tell where the road was, or that the traveled portion looked farther to the north, or that the road appeared to be closed in. Aubrey L. Hays, an engineer and construction superintendent of M & W Construction Company, testified in great detail about the warning signs, the use of the pump and its location, the number of flares and their location, and the absence of dirt and slush because of the fact that Walter S. Ables cleaned the pavement when the work closed down on Thursday. He denied that the pump or any of the flares were on the pavement. His evidence, if true, tended to exonerate M & W Construction Company from all blame. He admitted that he and Ables went to the scene sometime after the collision, when no one else was present, and investigated to see whether the car had hit the pump, and that they had no authority from any one to obstruct the paved portion. Walter S. Ables corroborated Hays in practically all particulars. He stated that the pump was 3 feet by 3  feet 18 or 20 inches, and admitted that it would have been extremely dangerous for the pump to be sitting one or two feet on the pavement a short distance east of the mound of dirt. C.W. Rowell testified that he put out the flares and all of them on the south side were from one to two feet off of the pavement. He said the pump was on the shoulder and a flare was between it and the pavement. He admitted that the pump would throw water or slush about 6 feet on the pavement. T.V. Rone went to the scene after the wreck, and saw the pump sitting kind of on the pile of dirt. He noticed flares on the north and south sides. There was a big rain that night after the wreck. The next morning he dug down in the dirt and found the pump to be 16 inches from the flare, which was partly on and off the pavement. Arthur White, a safety engineer, testified as to the sufficiency of the warnings, the grades, the extent of the curve, and the visibility. He was asked on direct examination whether, in his opinion, the placing of the flares as he observed them from the drawings and with the assumptions therefrom would create an optical illusion for a traveller proceeding from the west to the east, and he replied That is a question that is hard to answer. But he then proceeded to associate it with various elements and came to the conclusion that he could see nothing to cause it. On cross examination he admitted that it is not good practice to leave a pump at night on a highway in the manner shown by the evidence for the complainants, and he does not recommend such. He said that an object should never be left in the road unless it was absolutely necessary; and that if he had happened along and seen the pump on the pavement, he would have told the contractors to slide it off of the pavement. It was shown that the rainfall on March 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 was .38, .53, .90, .20 and 1.84 inches.  In resolving this sharply disputed issue of fact, the chancellor was fully warranted in finding that the defendants piled a large mound of dirt near the highway, left the pump on the highway, placed burning flares on the pavement for 135 feet east of the pump, placed burning flares 8 to 10 feet from the pavement on the north side and let sand and dirt accumulate in the south lane of the pavement; that the view to the east was obstructed by the mound; that these acts of the defendants created a situation which on this substantial curve, produced an optical illusion which reasonably caused Leslie to leave his proper lane of traffic and cross over to the center of the road, or other lane, and led him reasonably to believe that he was in his proper lane of traffic when in truth and in fact he was not; and that the creation and maintenance of such a situation was negligence.