Sheffield v. Union Oil Co.

Citations

• 82 Wash. 386
• 144 P. 529
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1527

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Streets—Negligent Use — Collision— Contributory Negligence — Evidence- — Sufficiency. Whether a bicyclist, who was run down from behind by a motor truck, was guilty of contributory negligence, is a question for the jury, where it appears that he had been riding near the curb, and, seeing the truck about half a block behind him near the curb, he turned out to near the center of the street, to give the truck an opportunity to pass to the right, as required by Rem. & Bal. Code, § 5569, and on hearing it close behind, again turned to the left between the car rails, and continued a short distance, until the truck was close behind and he was in a position of imminent peril, when he turned to the right, his wheel skidded on the rails, and he fell, and it cannot be said from the evidence that the driver of the truck had not had ample time to pass on the right, if disposed to do so.</p> <p>■Trial — Instructions—Comment on Facts. In an action for personal injuries sustained by being run down by an automobile, it is not an unlawful comment on the facts for the court, in instructing the jury, to refer to the place as “in-the thickly settled part of the city,” where the fact was not very material, nor disputed, and the jury viewed the place.</p>