Davidson v. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co.

Citations

• 171 Pa. 522
• 33 A. 86
• 1895 Pa. LEXIS 1337

Syllabus

<p>Negligence—Railroads—Stop, look and listen—Evidence— Question for jury.</p> <p>, In actions to recover damages for death or injuries at grade crossings, where the facts are simple, and the evidence by which they are presented is involved in no uncertainty, their legal value is for the court to determine; but where the evidence is conflicting, or the facts are left in doubt, the conclusions are to be drawn by the jury.</p> <p>In an action to recover damages for personal injuries suffered by the collision of a wagon and a train at a grade crossing, the case is for the jury where the evidence tends to show that at the place of the accident defendant’s railroad was paralleled by another railroad about one hundred and twenty-five feet to the south ; that plaintiff stopped about two rods from the crossing of defendant’s road and “looked and listened;” that he heard a train approaching from the east, and waited until he saw that it was on the other railroad, when he drove on defendant’s track and was struck by a train coming from the west; that this train gave no notice of its approach by whistle or bell; that it could have been seen for about six hundred feet if attention had been given to it at the proper moment, and that this distance would have been covered by a train moving at the rate of fifteen miles per hour in about thirty seconds; that the day was rainy, and that it was drizzling at the time of the accident.</p> <p>It was for the jury to say in view of all the circumstances whether the plaintiff did in fact stop, look and listen; and whether, when the nearness of the tracks of the two roads, the approach of the train from the east, the character of the day, and the absence of signals by the train coming from the west are considered, the plaintiff exercised the measure of care which the law required of him. Per Williams, J.</p>