Court Opinion

ID: 9540428
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:15:51.058922+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:57:19.727809
License: Public Domain

McDONOUGH, Justice
(concurring in result).
I concur in the result and in most of what is said in the opinion of Mr. Chief Justice PRATT. I am of the opinion, however, that there is no evidence in the record from which the jury could conclude that the defendant consciously drove his car over the center line of the highway and on to the left side thereof. The opinion of the Chief Justice states: “The evidence in this case is rather weak in its support of the conclusion that defendant drove his car on the left hand side of the center line.”
*535As indicated, I believe that there is no evidence in the record which would support such a conclusion. True, in Exhibit “G” set out in the opinion of the Chief Justice, is found the following:
“I was going to pass another vehicle who was driving in center lane but he moved into left lane and I put on the brakes and I lost control of my vehicle.”
Even taking that statement without further explanation thereof, I think it not susceptible of an interpretation that the defendant was passing another vehicle and in doing so drove on the wrong side of the highway. Could such statements standing alone be so construed, the construction is precluded by the testimony of the officer who took the statement. Officer Cederlund, on cross-examination as to the conversation of the defendant, of which Exhibit “G” purports to be the record, testified: “A. As I remember, he told me that he was driving down the center lane of the northbound traffic and was going to pass a vehicle going in the same direction. As he went to pass, this car moved over in front of him, and he put on his brakes and lost control of the vehicle.
“Q. As a matter of fact, he did state to you at that, did he, Officer Ceder-lund, that the other car moved in front of him as he was proceeding in the lane next to the center, and at that time he had slowed up and lost control of the car? A. I believe that is just what I stated.”
The foregoing testimony of Officer Cederlund is nowhere contradicted or modified in the record. It is, therefore, clear beyond doubt that the defendant did not drive over on to the left hand side of the highway in order to pass the vehicle in front of him but rather that another car having moved in from the lane to his right, he applied his brakes and as a consequence his car skidded onto the wrong side of the highway.
The physical condition of the highway was not such that *536several lanes of traffic might not proceed northward thereon. The same witness for the state testified as to the condition of the highway. He stated while pointing to an exhibit: “A. This line here was visible in the highway and approximately half of this lane and half of this lane, approximately twelve feet or it was twelve feet was worn down to the hard surface of the road. From here to here or to here was hard-packed snow, and from here to here on the shoulder was hard-packed snow.
“Q. Then, generally speaking, the ice was along the lane the automobiles had been traveling most frequently, and then on either side of that lane was hard-packed snow? A. Yes, sir.”
In view of the state of the record as indicated, it is clear that if the submission of the case to the jury is to be upheld, it must be on the basis of other conduct on the part of the defendant which it is asserted constituted conduct in marked disregard of the safety of others. While the question is not without doubt, I am of the opinion that taking into consideration all of the evidence in the record relative to the excessively slippery condition of the highway; the rate of speed at which the defendant was admittedly traveling; the condition of his tires, three of which under the testimony of an investigating officer had the treads entirely worn away; plus the fact that the defendant was driving a car overloaded with passengers, there was sufficient evidence to permit the jury to determine whether so driving was in marked disregard of the safety of others.
I, therefore, concur.