Court Opinion

ID: 9448060
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 23:22:13.305266+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:15.859624
License: Public Domain

BRATTON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
Municipalities in Kansas are clothed with conventional police power. And in the exercise of that power they may enact suitable ordinances not in conflict with state or federal law for the safety and welfare of the public in using streets and public thoroughfares. An ordinance enacted for that purpose is presumed *698to be valid and the burden of establishing invalidity rests upon one asserting it. Truck-Trailer Supply Co. v. Farmer, 181 Kan. 396, 311 P.2d 1004. Acting in the exercise of its police power, the City of Lawrence enacted an ordinance which provides that it shall be unlawful to operate a train within the city at a rate of speed in excess of thirty miles per hour, or in any other manner which is dangerous to public safety. The train in question was not traveling at more than thirty miles per hour. But the last provision of the ordinance is not invalid for vagueness or uncertainty. And under its terms, the operation of a train in a manner which peculiar circumstances make dangerous to safety and welfare of those using the streets is forbidden even though the train is being moved at a speed less than thirty miles per hour.
Under the law of Kansas, speed alone in the operation of a train in the open country does not constitute actionable negligence. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. Schriver, 80 Kan. 540, 103 P. 994, 24 L.R.A., N.S., 492; Modlin v. Consumers Cooperative Association, 172 Kan. 428, 241 P.2d 692; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Co. v. Consumers Cooperative Association, 10 Cir., 180 F.2d 900, certiorari denied, 340 U.S. 813, 71 S.Ct. 42, 95 L.Ed. 598; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Co. v. Hugh Breeding, Inc., 10 Cir., 232 F.2d 584; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Co. v. Hugh Breeding, Inc., 10 Cir., 247 F.2d 217.
But this accident did not occur in open country. It occurred in a municipality. The engineer knew that the street and the track crossed at the intersection; he knew that the street was one of constant use; he knew that due to a curve in the track and to the position of the westbound train, the crossing would not come into view until his train was within four to five hundred feet of the crossing; and he knew that due to the speed and length of the train, he could not stop it after seeing and before reaching the crossing. Still, in view of all of those facts and circumstances, he did not reduce the speed of the train. Instead, the speed remained constant until the train was too close to the crossing to be stopped in time to avoid the accident. Even though the train was moving at less than thirty miles per hour, it is my view that when all of the facts and circumstances are considered together, reasonable minded persons might readily reach different conclusions in respect to whether the engineer failed to exercise due care in the operation of the train commensurate with the degree of danger existing at the crossing. In other words, it is my conviction that reasonable minded persons might easily reach different conclusions as to whether the train was being operated in a manner which was dangerous to public welfare within the intent and meaning of the ordinance. If so, it was a question for the jury.