Court Opinion

ID: 9575741
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:16:33.257609+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:49:55.769513
License: Public Domain

Gordon, J.
(dissenting). In my opinion, there was no duty on the part of Sheboygan county to give special notice of its grading operation to persons in this driver’s position. Under the circumstances, the grading activities themselves were entirely adequate notice.
The accident occurred in broad daylight; the weather was clear, bright, and dry. Mr. Sebald observed the county’s grading machine 600 feet before he reached the portion of the highway being graded. He had traveled this road many times before the accident and knew that the road surface changed to gravel at this point. The gravel ridge was eight inches high and two feet wide and was completely visible. There was nothing hidden, obscure, or camouflaged about the condition of the highway. In fact, the grading- work was fully visible to drivers from a crest which was not less than 288 feet away.
It should also be noted that the accident did not occur at the onset of the gravel ridge. Mr. Sebald testified that he traveled on the gravel about 86 feet, then crossed over the gravel ridge and proceeded another 510 feet. He then crossed back over the gravel ridge and did not leave the highway until 45 feet thereafter.
It seems to me that under these circumstances there is no negligence on the part of the county in failing to give some other type of notice to Mr. Sebald. The open and obvious presence of the county’s orange-colored grader and of the gravel ridge itself was reasonably calculated to constitute notice. Had this occurred in the nighttime or under *173otherwise obscured conditions, a jury question might have been presented.
In Loehe v. Fox Point (1948), 253 Wis. 375, 379, 34 N. W. (2d) 126, we said:
“There was no duty on the part of the village to give any warning of road conditions which in and of themselves provide ample and timely notice to one using the highway with due care.”
There are numerous cases involving road barriers which apply the same doctrine. Butcher v. Racine (1926), 189 Wis. 541, 208 N. W. 244; Buckley v. Washington County (1926), 189 Wis. 176, 207 N. W. 558.
I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice Currie and Mr. Justice Hallows join in this dissent.