Court Opinion

ID: 9572146
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:38:57.173827+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:38.886169
License: Public Domain

Hill, Justice,
dissenting.
In my view a combine being driven on a road at a speed of 8 miles per hour or more is not an obstruction within the meaning of the statute so as to justify another driver who is traveling in the same direction to pass it in a no-passing zone. Under the majority opinion a slowly driven school bus could be an obstruction. More significantly, a school bus slowing down (or stopped) in order to make a left turn could be an obstruction.
This is not a case where the driver of the following vehicle came up behind a slowly moving vehicle, slowed down to its speed, followed it a short distance, and then decided to pass. Here the passing tractor-trailer was being driven by the plaintiff at a speed of 50 to 55 miles per hour. This plaintiff never slowed down; he just decided to pass in a no-passing zone at an intersection where the defendant planned to turn left. I would affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Justice Jordan joins in this dissent.