Tecker v. Seattle, Renton & Southern Railway Co.

Citations

• 60 Wash. 570
• 111 P. 791
• 1910 Wash. LEXIS 1100

Syllabus

<p>Street Railroads — Operation of Cars — Fenders—Municipal Regulations — Reasonableness—Police Powers. An ordinance requiring a street car company to equip its cars with fenders extending as near its tracks as practicable, so that persons struck may be either raised and carried or pushed from the track, is not unreasonable as requiring a guarantee that the fenders shall in all eases perform the desired functions; and such ordinance is within the police powers of the city.</p> <p>Street Railroads — Operation of Cars — Fenders — Compliance With Regulations — Question for Jury. It is a question for the jury to determine whether a street car fender, twenty-two inches above the track, was carried as near the rails as was consistent with practical operation of the cars, where there was testimony that it was practical to carry them eight inches above the track.</p> <p>Street Railroads — Injury to Persons on Track — Negligence— Evidence — Sufficiency. The jury is warranted in finding gross negligence on the part of a motorman in running ddwn a child six years old, where a moment before the motorman had been talking with a passenger and not looking at the track, and when he first observed the child it was fifteen feet ahead of the car, crossing the street in a place of safety “if it had stopped,” but it kept going and paid no attention to the gong, the car was going up grade, the day was clear and the view unobstructed.</p> <p>Same — Contributory Negligence — Children. A child six years of age is not, as a matter of law, guilty of contributory negligence in running across a street in front of an approaching street car, its ■conduct indicating that it had not seen the car.</p> <p>Same — Action for Death — Contributory Negligence of Parent. A parent is not guilty of contributory negligence, as a matter of law, precluding recovery for the death of a child six years of age, struck by a street car, in sending the child in care of another, ten years ■old, to the post office, two