Adams v. Wilmington & New Castle Electric Railway Co.

Citations

• 19 Del. 512
• 52 A. 264
• 3 Penne. 512
• 1902 Del. LEXIS 10

Syllabus

<p>Case—Personal Injuries—Negligence—Railway Company—Public Highway ; Use of—Crossing Railways—Care Required— Unavoidable Accident—Measure of Damages.</p> <p>1. An electric railway has a right to use the public highway in common with other travelers and persons who see fit to use it in vehicles drawn by horses or otherwise. The cars of necessity can use only those parts of the highway covered by the tracks, inasmuch as such cars move only upon their tracks within fixed limits. Within these lines the right of the company is superior to that of other users, and must not be unnecessarily interfered with or obstructed.</p> <p>2. The degree of care to be exercised by both company and traveler in using the public highway is such as the circumstances of the case reasonably require—an increase or care being required where there is an increase of danger. The right of each must be exercised in a reasonable and careful manner, so as not unreasonably to abridge or interfere with the right of the other.</p> <p>3. There is no absolute rule as to what precise acts of precaution are necessary to be done or left undone by persons who may have need to cross electric railways. Such acts must necessarily depend upon the circumstances of each particular case. The degree of care differs in different cases. Greater care is necessary in crossing a road where the cars run at a high rate of speed, and close together, than where they run at less speed and remote from one another. In like manner, where the view at the crossing is obstructed, or in a neighborhood where there is much noise and confusion, greater care is necessary than in places where the view is unobstructed and with quiet surroundings. And a railway company is held to greater caution in the more thronged streets of the densely populated portions of the city than in the less obstructed streets in the open or suburban parts. Persons crossing a railway track are bound to the reasonable use of all their senses for the prevention of