Court Opinion

ID: 9592926
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:18:07.797975+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:12:31.132158
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
concurring specially.
If plaintiff’s driver was using the turn lane as a passing lane in violation of OCGA § 40-6-46, and the driver of the entering auto had a right to assume that others using the roadway would obey the rules of the road, Lusk v. Smith, 110 Ga. App. 36, 39-40 (137 SE2d 734) (1964), so that she could assume no one was coming in that lane to pass vehicles in the pickup truck’s lane, then she would have no duty to yield the right-of-way to an unknown and unseen vehicle because she had no duty to anticipate its advance. Obviously, if she saw or should have seen the approaching vehicle, OCGA § 40-6-73 would require her to yield, whether the approaching vehicle was proceeding legally or unlawfully. Munday v. Brissette, 113 Ga. App. 147, 160 (10) (148 SE2d 55) (1966), rev’d on other grounds, 222 Ga. 162 (149 SE2d 110) (1966).
On the other hand, the driver of the entering auto had a duty to anticipate the approach of vehicles using the lane legally to make left turns and, in this regard, to yield even to unseen and unknown such vehicles. OCGA § 40-6-73. That is, since she could not see, she knew there might be unknown and unseen vehicles lawfully approaching. She took a risk of violating OCGA § 40-6-73 by relying on the pickup truck driver’s indication that there were no vehicles to prevent a safe entry. Munday, supra, supports this conclusion in its emphasis on the statutory “all vehicles.”
Simpson v. Reed, 186 Ga. App. 297, 299 (9) (367 SE2d 563) (1988), is not in error as written because there may have been evidence that the driver of the entering vehicle exercised ordinary care in determining that no vehicle was approaching. If he did, then he would not be failing to yield to any vehicle in violation of OCGA § 40-6-73.