Opinion ID: 1726172
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: instruction on plaintiff's duty of care

Text: The trial court gave the following instruction to the jury regarding plaintiff's duty of care: Now, I want to instruct you jurors that the Supreme Court has said that a so-called right of way is not an assurance of safety, and does not grant an absolute right of way under all conditions. The driver on the street who does have a so-called right of way is still required to exercise due care in driving his car, or her car, in view of the conditions as they existed at that time. The driver on a favored highway, the superior highway, has a right to assume that other drivers will obey properly erected traffic signs, but you must keep in mind here that this accident is with an authorized emergency vehicle which had a right under certain conditions to violate an erected traffic sign. The driver on a through highway may not proceed blindly. The driver is required to remain alert to hazards on the highway and to make reasonable observations of other drivers approaching the intersection and must keep such lookout ahead and to the sides of intersecting highways as a reasonably, prudent, careful person would do in order to discover possible dangers, and he must act carefully with the same care that the ordinary careful and prudent person would act upon the existing conditions that then existed. (Emphasis added.) At trial plaintiff's counsel objected to the instruction on the ground that plaintiff had no duty to look to either direction, but had a right to assume other vehicles were going to assume [sic] her the right of way until she knew or should have known that another vehicle was going to interfere with her right of way. There are several statutes relevant to the resolution of this issue. One is MCL 257.649(f); MSA 9.2349(f), which gives the driver on a through street the right of way paramount to a driver traveling on a stop street, Except when directed to proceed by a police officer, the driver of a vehicle approaching a stop intersection indicated by a stop sign shall stop before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection   . (Emphasis added.) Cases interpreting this statute have held that the standard of care to which the favored driver (driver with the right of way) must adhere is a standard of reasonable or due care under the circumstances. See Koehler v Thom, 285 Mich 593, 598; 281 NW 336 (1938); Beauchamp v Olsen, 42 Mich App 323, 325; 201 NW2d 677 (1972). What is reasonable on the part of the favored driver has been further refined. [T]he operator of an automobile proceeding through an intersection controlled by a traffic signal is under no duty to make an independent determination as to whether the traffic approaching a red light will stop. In such a situation the operator of an automobile is not required to observe traffic approaching a red light to determine whether it is safe to proceed. The driver can justifiably rely on what all have come to expect  that traffic approaching a red light will stop. Buchholtz v Deitel, 59 Mich App 349, 352; 229 NW2d 448 (1975). [16] (Emphasis added.) This reliance, of course, does not absolve the favored driver from the need to exercise due care. See Beauchamp v Olsen, 42 Mich App 323; 201 NW2d 677 (1972). Other statutes must also be considered when, as in the instant case, there is an authorized emergency vehicle involved. MCL 257.653; MSA 9.2353 states in relevant part, (a) Upon the immediate approach of an authorized emergency vehicle