Court Opinion

ID: 9552419
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:10:22.375251+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:26:21.766607
License: Public Domain

Dolliver, J.
(concurring in the result)—I concur in the result reached by the majority. However, with respect to the majority's comments on the seat belt defense, I am unpersuaded.
*135The majority says the question is "whether the court should impose a standard of conduct upon all persons riding in vehicles equipped with seat belts." This is not so. Given the common knowledge obtained from the massive educational campaign as to the effectiveness of seat belts for driver safety (see J. Hoglund & A. Parsons, Caveat Viator: The Duty to Wear Seat Belts Under Comparative Negligence Law, 50 Wash. L. Rev. 1 (1974)), in a seat belt situation as here the question rather should be whether a reasonable woman of ordinary prudence possessed of this knowledge and considering the probability of being involved in an accident and the probable severity of the harm to herself as a result of such an accident would make use of available belts for her own protection. J. Kircher, The Seat Belt Defense—State of the Law, 53 Marq. L. Rev. 172, 184 (1970).
The specter raised by the majority as to "a veritable battle of experts" is just that: a ghostly apparition with no substance. Surely the testimony of experts on seat belts would cause no more "substantial speculation by the trier of the facts" than numerous other factual issues which are routinely addressed.
Matters of negligence and standard of care are not considered in a vacuum. The whole purpose of bringing the action is for a money judgment to be obtained by the plaintiff against the defendant. I fail to see the peculiar mystique of seat belts which prevents their use or nonuse from being considered as a factor in any eventual recovery plaintiff may secure. This question should be particularly pertinent in a comparative negligence state such as Washington.
Nonetheless, since Derheim v. N. Fiorito Co., 80 Wn.2d 161, 492 P.2d 1030 (1972), the more salutary rule does not appear to be the law of the state. Thus my concurrence.