Court Opinion

ID: 9811192
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 22:12:35.520501+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:07:08.274608
License: Public Domain

OlaRK, C. J.,
concurring: Had this action been begun within six months a nonsuit would have been forbidden on the further ground that Revisal, 2645, makes the killing or idjury of live stock by ’cars or engine of any railroad “prima- facie evidence of negligence on the part of the company,” if the action is brought within six months. This has been held to embrace oxen yoked to a cart and under control of a driver. Randall v. R. R., 104 N. C., 410. This case was reaffirmed on rehearing after the fullest discussion. See 107 N. C., 748. This has been followed in many cases. Anno. Ed.
*179These cases hold that the statute applies even when the animal is under the control of the driver. Certainly it would apply when, as here, he had lost control. Among late cases is Hanford v. R. R., 167 N. C., 279, where the presumption was applied to a horse which broke loose from a buggy, and Briley v. R. R., 174 N. C., 785, where it was claimed that a cow was killed by running into the train to rejoin the herd.
When the action is brought within the statutory time, a prima facie case is raised and it is error to nonsuit.
The public roads belong to the people, who have the prior right over them. The grant to qwasi-publie corporations; operating for. private gain, to cross public roads is subordinate to the public right, and must be exercised with due care, not only in running the trains but in locating and safeguarding the crossings. In some instances levers and gongs can be used, but now when our population and the volume of business, both on railroads and public roads are rapidly increasing and will continue to do so, there are few points where to maintain a grade crossing is not negligence per se. At the very least, it is a question for a jury, for it is prima facie negligence (which prevents a nonsuit) when there is a grade crossing on the edge of a growing, busy town like Goldsboro, the public roads leading into which are crowded with traffic and travel. For nearly two-thirds of a century this defendant has been indulged without these safeguards being required. It is surely now time that all railroads were fixed with notice of the duty they owe to the public at all crossings of “safety first.”
Eleven years ago the Corporation Commission by chapter 469, Laws 1907, now Revisal, 1097 (10), were given tho power to abolish grade crossings. That they have not done so makes none the less all grade crossings a nuisance, for which the railroad company is liable, wherever the volume of traffic on the public roads makes such crossings dangerous or a serious interruption to the free use of the public roads. This matter has been often discussed. McMillan v. R. R. 172 N. C., 857-858; R. R. v. Goldsboro, 155 N. C., 365 (affirmed on writ of error, 232 U. S., 548); Gerringer v. R. R., 146 N. C., 35-37; Wilson v. R. R., 142 U. S., 349; Cooper v. R. R., 140 N. C., 229, and other cases.
In a free country, the first consideration always is the safety, convenience, and welfare of its people.