Opinion ID: 2495846
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: P-40 (safe turns)

Text: ¶ 49. Leah and Dewey contend that the court should have granted P-40, which addressed a driver's responsibility to execute safe turns from the roadway. ¶ 50. P-40 stated: The Court instructs the jury that if you find that a reasonably prudent person would not have attempted to maneuver the type of flat bed truck and 29 foot gooseneck trailer as that used by the Defendants from a highway into a narrow, private drive of the dimension and character as the one in this case, in the manner employed by the Defendants, then you shall find that the Defendants were negligent. If the jury so finds, then you shall then decide whether such negligence proximately caused or contributed to the accident and death of Jonathan Dooley, and shall do so in conjunction with the remaining instructions given. ¶ 51. Here, Leah and Dewey requested, and the trial court granted, another instruction that covered a driver's responsibility to turn safely. Jury instruction number 13 [5] instructed the jury to return a verdict in the plaintiffs' favor if it found that Jonathan's death was caused by Byrd's failure in attempting to turn from a direct course on the highway into Smith's driveway, when the turn could not be done or was not done with reasonable safety. Thus, the trial court properly refused P-40, as it would have been cumulative. Burr, 909 So.2d at 726.