Heg v. Mullen

Citations

• 115 Wash. 252
• 197 P. 51
• 1921 Wash. LEXIS 743

Syllabus

<p>Highways (58)—Negligent Use—Questions eor Jury. The speed and distance traveled by an automobile in a collision case cannot be appealed to as physical facts; and where evidence on such matters is dependent on estimates made by witnesses, the question is one for the jury.</p> <p>Evidence (52)—Res Gestae—Statements Accompanying Event. An ejaculation by a passenger in one automobile just before a collision with another car, to the effect, “My! Art, that car is coming fast,” was admissible as part of the res gestae, not being of a self-serving nature.</p> <p>Highways (59)—Law oe the Road—Instructions. In an action for damages sustained in an automobile collision through defendant’s excessive speed, a charge to the jury that plaintiffs had a right to assume that defendant would comply with the statute was erroneous, where plaintiffs’ evidence showed that they knew defendant was in fact violating the speed limit.</p> <p>Evidence (54)—Res Gestae—Statements Before Event. In an automobile collision case, charged as due to the high speed of defendant’s car, testimony of a passenger therein in hoarding the car that he remarked “I have heard of lots of these cars making sixty miles an hour but I never saw it done,” was inadmissible, in the absence of any testimony showing that the driver intended to make good the suggestion.</p> <p>Same (52)—Res Gestae — Statements Accompanying Event. Where a passenger in an automobile testified that, near the place of collision, he got up and looked at the speedometer and said to the boys “I am in no hurry,” the testimony was admissible as tending to show the speed of the car at the time of the accident.</p>