Court Opinion

ID: 9693946
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:12:14.566083+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:52.694520
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Gunther, J.:
Although I agree with the conclusion reached by the majority because the questions of negligence and contributory negligence involved in this case were properly left for the determination of the jury, I am obliged to concur rather than approve the majority opinion because of certain conclusions arrived at which, in my view, are unwarranted.
While there was no stop sign erected on Admiral Street, it was conceded that Brodhead Road was a main through highway and the plaintiff had the right to assume, under normal circumstances, that he had the right of way. He had the right to assume that the operator of a vehicle on a side road would stop until traffic had cleared the intersection. As a matter of fact, defendant stated that if he had known he had reached Route 51, he would have stopped before entering said highway and stated, further, that he would normally have stopped before entering it. The testi*328mony disclosed that when it became apparent that defendant was not going to stop at the intersection, he “went for the brakes.” Faced with this sudden emergency,. he attempted to stop his vehicle. As stated by the Supreme Court in the case of Casey v. Siciliano, 310 Pa. 238, 242, 165 A. 1, 2: “When the driver of- an automobile claims that he has been subjected to a sudden emergency in driving on the highways, to enable him to claim the benefit of this rule, it must appear that he was not driving in a reckless or careless manner, but with due regard to the condition of the highway and the traffic.”
Section 1112, subsections (a) and (b) of The Vehicle Code, 75 P.S. 712, are cited dealing with the establishment of stop signs at intersections and the authority of the Secretary of Highways and local authorities to designate through highways. The majority concludes that the only way a through highway and a stop intersection can be made is by the erection of proper signs. The difficulty with this conclusion, as I view it, is that the respective authorities are not absolutely required to so designate and erect signs. Such stop signs, even if erected, are visible only to the vehicle traveling on the intersecting street. The failure to erect such signs would not necessarily eliminate the obvious fact that State Highway 51 was and is a through highway. To hold that the failure to erect a stop sign at the intersection eliminates from consideration that State Highway 51 is a through highway is not realistic and imposes on the authorities a mandatory duty which cannot be found in The Vehicle Code. There are many roads, streets and ways intersecting main traffic arteries of this Commonwealth which do not have stop signs erected on them or designating such main artery, as .a. through. highway. For example, no one would deny the fact that U. S. High*329way 30 is a through highway. However, if' the many side roads and ways intersecting said highway have no stop signs erected, the character of such highway is destroyed. I cannot agree with such a conclusion.. Until the legislature sees fit to make the erection of stop signs mandatory before a highway may be classified as a through highway, we should not require that which is permissive to be mandatory.