Haas v. Chester Street Railway Co.

Citations

• 202 Pa. 145
• 51 A. 744
• 1902 Pa. LEXIS 482

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Street railways — Duty of driver to look and listen.</p> <p>The driver of a wagon is not required to stop before attempting to cross the track of a street railway, but it is his duty to look when in a place where he has a view of the track in the direction from which a car may be expected to come, and to continue to look as he approaches it. Ordinarily on a city street the house line is the proper place from which to look, and looking from a point back of the house line where the view is obstructed does not relieve from the charge of contributory negligence. But if the act of looking, commenced at a point back of the house line, continues when it is reached and until the driver is so far committed to the act of crossing that it is more dangerous to attempt to stop than to go on, he has done all the law requires in that regard. When a clear view of the track for a safe ’ distance cannot be had, it may be the duty of the driver to stop before crossing the track of a street railway. But this is not a fixed legal duty as it is in the case of steam railroads, and unless the necessity for this additional precaution is obvious, the question whether under the circumstances it should have been taken is for the jury.</p> <p>In an action against a street railway company to recover damages for personal injuries sustained in a collision between a street car and carriage, the evidence for the plaintiff tended to show that the plaintiff and two other persons while riding in an open carriage approached a street on which was a single track on which cars were run in both directions. The horse was on a slow trot, estimated at six miles an hour, and all three occupants of the carriage looked and listened for the approach of a car. When within nine feet of the house line, the driver checked his horse, leaned over the dashboard, and looked west for a car. From this point he could see the track for a distance of eighty feet west of the house line and probably 100 feet from