Court Opinion

ID: 9612044
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:03:43.695625+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:18.994901
License: Public Domain

Schwellenbach, C. J.
(dissenting)—There is no question as to the negligence of respondent. She proceeded into the intersection without regard to the rights of appellant. Appellant, being the favored driver, owed no duty to respondent, the disfavored driver on his left, to protect her from her negligence, there being no question of last clear chance in this case. However, he did owe a duty to himself to protect himself from the negligence of the disfavored driver. His failure to look to the left contributed to his damages and was a proximate cause of the accident. It is a question of fact whether or not a plaintiff or cross-complainant is guilty of ■contributing to his own injuries and whether or not such action is a proximate cause of the accident. If this case had been tried to a jury and the jury had been given the usual instructions on contributory negligence and proximate cause, and had arrived at the same result as the trial judge, we would not overthrow the verdict.
I agree that a favored driver has the right to assume that other users of the highway will obey the traffic laws and *763rules of the road, and this must always be taken into consideration in determining whether or not he has been guilty of contributory negligence which was a proximate cause of the accident. It is a well known fact, however, that many users of the highway do not obey the traffic laws and the rules of the road, and this must also be taken into consideration, especially with regard to the question of contributory negligence. Here the trier of the facts found that both automobiles approached the intersection at approximately the same speed; that the favored driver did not look to his left upon approaching the intersection and that he did not see the automobile of the defendants until he was within several feet of the same; that defendants’ automobile was visible at least one hundred feet away from the intersection and remained visible at all times from said point to the point of collision; that the favored driver did not observe defendants’ car and did not slow the speed of his car at any time prior to the collision, and that by reason thereof the favored driver was negligent and said negligence contributed proximately to the collision of the automobiles.
We have no right to speculate as to what appellant might have done or might not have done had he observed the disfavored driver approaching from his left. The majority states that had appellant looked to the left, and had he seen the disfavored driver approaching, he would have had the right to assume that the disfavored driver would have yielded the right of way to him. The fact is that the disfavored driver continued on her way without slowing down, and, had the favored driver looked before he entered the intersection, he would have seen that a collision would be likely to occur. His failure to look, therefore, contributed to and was a proximate cause of the accident.
The rule that we will not overthrow the findings of the trial court unless the evidence clearly preponderates against such findings needs no citation of authority. The evidence in this case most certainly does not preponderate against the findings of the trial court, and such findings should not be overthrown by speculative suppositions.
Hill and Olson, JJ., concur with Schwellenbach, C. J.