Snow v. Western New York & Pennsylvania Traction Co.

Citations

• 45 Pa. Super. 422
• 1911 Pa. Super. LEXIS 60

Syllabus

<p>Negligence—Street railways—Collision—Wagon and car—Bridge—■ Evidence—Contributory negligence.</p> <p>In an action against a street railway company to recover damages for personal injuries it appeared that the plaintiff was injured in a collision between a carriage which he was driving and a street car on a bridge. The tracks were laid on the middle of the bridge, and owing to the fact that the bridge was only sixteen feet wide an ordinary vehicle could not pass a ear on it. The accident happened near midnight on a dark night. The plaintiff had not driven over the bridge after the tracks had been laid upon it, although he had done so before. He testified that he was looking straight ahead with his eyes on his team and the street in front, that he observed no car before he entered the bridge, but that as soon as he got his team straightened out on the bridge a car flashed into view ahead of him, and before it could be stopped ran him down. The car was lighted in the usual way, and was going, according to the weight of the testimony, at a high rate of speed. There was evidence that the bridge was only half the width of the street, and that as the plaintiff approached it, keeping on his own side of the road, his view was somewhat interfered with by the uprights along the side of the bridge. It also appeared that at the end of the bridge in the direction from which the car came, a large electric street light hung just over the middle of the street. Held, that the question of the plaintiff’s contributory negligence was for the jury.</p>