Haas v. Northern Central Railway Co.

Citations

• 49 Pa. Super. 106
• 1912 Pa. Super. LEXIS 291

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroads—“Stop, look and listen” — Contributory negligence.</p> <p>1. The rule that the traveler about to cross a railroad track must stop, look and listen, is an absolute and unbending rule of law founded on public policy for the protection of passengers in railroad trains as much as travelers on the common highway, and such stopping, looking and listening must not be merely nominal or perfunctory, but substantial, careful and performed in good faith, with the accomplishment of the end in view. He must stop and look where he can see, and will not be allowed to say that he did so, when the circumstances make it plain that by the proper using of his common sense he must have seen his danger.</p> <p>2. The whole duty of one about to cross the tracks of a steam road at grade is not in all cases confined to his stopping, looking and listening for the approach of a train, he must stop at a proper place, and when he proceeds he should continue to look and to observe the precautions which the danger of the situation requires. He should stop again if there is another place nearer the tracks, from which he can better discern whether there is danger. But whether the place at which he stopped was the proper place at which to stop, and whether there is a second place at which he should stop, are questions of fact for the jury and not matters of law for the court.</p> <p>3. A person cannot be convicted of contributory negligence as a matter of law in driving a team over a railroad at a highway crossing, where the evidence shows that he stopped his team twenty feet distant from the tracks at a point from which he had a view of the track of from 300 to 400 feet; that this was the usual and proper place to stop; that he looked and listened at this point for an approaching train; that he then started his team at a walk continuing to look in the direction from which a train came, which struck him, and that the train approached the crossing at the rate of thirty or fo