Court Opinion

ID: 9545656
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:16:52.310622+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:15:18.409120
License: Public Domain

LATIMER, Justice.
I dissent.
This case presents slightly different principles than are involved in intersection collisions and I have doubts that the doctrine of re-appraisement as announced in those cases is applicable in this instance. The doctrine would appear to be more appropriate when a driver is required to focus his attention on traffic moving along intersecting highways and where it is reasonably necessary for a driver to observe in different directions. In my opinion this accident occurred because both parties failed to maintain a proper lookout. The defendant’s negligence consisted of moving from the shoulder of the highway on to the main travelled portion without looking to the south to see whether the movement could be made in safety. The plaintiff’s negligence consisted of failing to keep any look-out straight ahead to determine whether the road was free and clear of traffic moving to the north.
According to the plaintiff’s version of the accident, he was travelling north on U. S. Highway 91; there was no intersection to confuse him; no traffic immediately ahead of him to distract his attention; no traffic approaching within a reasonable distance from the opposite direction and no possibility of vehicles advancing along crossroads. The highway was straight and wide. The weather was *399clear and visibility was good. From these facts it is apparent that there was no incident or event to draw his sight from his course; no reason for his attention being divided and no reason for his not keeping a proper look-out ahead. Had he been reasonably observant of movements immediately ahead of him he could not have missed seeing the truck move from its parked position on the shoulder to the place where the collision occurred. Moreover, I can find no reasonable explanation of why plaintiff did not pass to the west side of the highway and go around the vehicle. He makes no contention that traffic prohibited this, neither does he claim that he made any particular effort to swing to the left side of the highway to permit him to pass in safety. The truck did not block that portion of the highway and such a movement could have been made in safety had the plaintiff observed the truck moving on to the paved portion of the highway. The maneuverability of a motorcycle is greater than that of an automobile and ordinary care in this case would have permitted the plaintiff to have gone on around the truck even though the time element might have been short.
I realize that this was a fast moving situation because of plaintiff’s speed, that time did not permit a studied course of action and that sometimes a parked car is driven on to the main travelled portion of the roadway with such suddenness that the party proceeding lawfully down the highway can not stop or turn out in time to avoid a collision. Plaintiff in this case does not contend that he .observed the movement and that it was so sudden he was unable to stop. He contends that because the truck appeared to be parked he can be excused for not observing it while he was travel-ling a distance estimated by him to be approximately one hundred seventy feet and until it was too late to avoid a collision. Regardless of the accuracy of plaintiff’s estimate of distance the truck was driven at a slow rate of speed from a parked position on the shoulder to a point almost in the center of the highway without being observed by plaintiff *400and the direction of travel was almost parallel with the oiled portion of the road.
To illustrate my point, Mr. Justice Wolfe in his opinion gives the plaintiff a quarter of a block to appraise and reappraise the situation. Without any interference by other traffic and without any reason to justify his failure to see I pose the following question to test plaintiff’s due care: Where was he looking during the time the truck moved from its stationary position until it was out on the highway? He had only one direction in which he need be looking, that is, straight ahead; and if he were maintaining any look-out in that direction he could not have missed seeing the truck moving onto the highway in time to have avoided the collision.
For the foregoing reason I conclude that the plaintiff was guilty of negligence as a matter of law and that the trial court should have directed a verdict.