Driver v. Worth Const. Co.

264 S.W.2d 174, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 1694
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 18, 1953
Docket15469
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 264 S.W.2d 174 (Driver v. Worth Const. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Driver v. Worth Const. Co., 264 S.W.2d 174, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 1694 (Tex. Ct. App. 1953).

Opinions

MASSEY, Chief Justice.

From a judgment for a defendant in a suit filed by the widow of a deceased automobile driver based upon negligence claimed to have caused an accident and such driver’s death, the plaintiff appeals.

Judgment affirmed.

During the very early hours of May 13, 1952, the time being about 2:20 o’clock A.M., Boyd Driver was operating his automobile in the municipality of River Oaks, in Tarrant County, Texas, upon a section of State Highway 183 which had not yet been opened to use of the general traveling public. While so driving he drove off the concrete slab of pavement into an open space or gap left in the pavement by the roadbuilding contractor and across the approximate 30 foot space representing the open space or gap, and into the blunt end of the pavement slab beginning at the opposite side of the open space or gap. The collision of the front end of Boyd Driver’s automobile with the end of the concrete slab was one of considerable force and violence, and Driver was thrown forward into the windshield and he was injured so that he died six days later.

The defendant, Worth Construction Company, was a corporation engaged in road construction and paving. By contract with the State of Texas, it conducted the work of converting Highway 183 through River Oaks Village from a highway of a type with a single-roadway to a boulevard-type highway. The operation was one which would upon completion have resulted in the roadway theretofore existing being one upon which only westbound traffic would travel, and the new pavement strip which was constructed parallel with and immediately to the south of the old roadway being one upon which only eastbound traffic would travel. There was to be an unpaved strip, or parkway, which would lie between the pavement lanes and which would separate vehicles traveling toward the east from those traveling toward the west. Prior to the time this construction was begun Highway 183 was already carrying a rather heavy load of traffic, both during daylight hours and at night, and during the time of construction, this traffic continued in effect, all of it being upon the old roadway or pavement theretofore existent. The new roadway and new pavement being installed thereon had not yet been opened for use.

[177]*177There were several streets, intersecting with Highway 183, which carried traffic to and fro from one side of the highway to the other, and which served to get vehicular traffic off of and onto the highway in question, and at these points the Worth Construction Company had adopted varying methods whereby this necessary purpose was accomplished. For instance, at the intersection of the highway with Ohio Garden Road, which intersection was the site of the accident of Boyd Driver, the gap was left out of the new pavement strip, and no barricades were placed to either, side of Ohio Garden Road at the new construction, but four flares, two upon the surface of the concrete to either side of the intersecting road, and one each of such flares upon the corners of the two slabs made by the failure to connect such slabs together. The surface of Ohio Garden Road was about one foot below the level of the pavement’slabs, ends of which were to either side of such road. On the other hand, the next intersecting road to the west which was left open and available for north-south traffic to cross Highway 183 was Merritt Street, and at this intersection there was a “sawhorse-type barricade” placed upon the newly constructed pavement at the east side of such intersection. At the intersection of Merritt Street and Highway 183, the newly poured pavement extended across such street, so that a member of the traveling public who was ■proceeding in a northerly direction on Merritt Street would approach the intersection, then drive upon and across the new pavement, then upon and across the “break” of the 29 foot wide “parkway section”, comprising the area dividing the new part of the highway from the old part, then upon and across the old pavement of the highway then existing and completed and open to the traveling public. Besides the aforesaid barricade at the intersection of Merritt Street with Highway 183 there were some flares burning, at least one of which was placed at the north end of the barricade. There was no sign on the barricade itself lettered so as to warn against entering upon the new pavement, nor was there any sign Jo-cated proximate to the barricade conveying any similar warning. The only signs in any wise relating to such were those visible to motorists traveling either north or south on Merritt Street, one each of which was placed so that just before entering either the new or the old sections of the highway from either the south or the north such a motorist would find at his right, in position where “stop-signs” are ordinarily found at roads intersecting into highways, medium sized lettered signs reading “Construction Drive Carefully”.

Earlier during the night of the fatal accident, Boyd Driver, who had a full time job as to which he had received notice he was to be “laid off”, had gone to the cafe known as “Tuck’s Grill”, which was on Main Street in downtown Fort Worth. The purpose of going to the cafe was to discuss with its operator the possibilities of obtaining “full-time” employment from him. It appears that Driver worked “part time” at the cafe, accommodating the hours of such part-time employment to his regular job. He was therefore personally acquainted with the cafe operator and with Ira Siratt, a “full-time” employee of the cafe. Mr. Siratt lived in a downtown hotel located within a very short distance of the cafe. Mr. Driver lived in a section of Fort Worth located to the east or southeast of the business district. The cafe operator lived northwest of Fort Worth in the River Oaks Village area. Pursuant to Driver’s conversation with the operator of the cafe, or pursuant to the accomplishment of the purposes of his visit initially occasioning his trip to the cafe, Driver volunteered to drive such cafe operator to his home in River Oaks. Mr. Siratt went along on the trip, activated in so doing by his desire for the companionship of Mr. Driver and for the pleasure of the drive. The normal return trip from River Oaks to Driver’s home would take him by the section of Fort Worth where Siratt resided. Upon the trip to the cafe operator’s home from the cafe location, Driver traveled in a westerly direction on Highway 183 upon reaching that highway 'by a route taken to [178]*178the northwest from downtown Fort Worth. In driving toward the west on Highway-183, he traveled the existing and open highway in use which paralleled the new roadway in the process of construction for a considerable distance before turning to the left and driving to a point south of the highway to the home of .the cafe operator. In so doing he observed that over the entire roadway such travel as there was on Highway 183 was solely by use of the old section of the highway. At least the evidence established that such travel as there was upon the highway during that period was all on the old section.

After leaving the home of the cafe operator Mr. Driver followed the practical route which would have enabled him to return to downtown Fort Worth by way of returning first to Highway 183 and driving toward the east thereon, afterward to proceed toward the southeast and into town. That is, he did so up until the time he reached the highway by way of traveling in a northerly direction on Merritt Street, at which point he would normally turn to his right and drive east on the old roadway section of Highway 183 which was the road used by him on his initial trip.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Texas Steel Company v. Recer
508 S.W.2d 889 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1974)
RO McDonnell Development Company v. Schlueter
339 S.W.2d 701 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1960)
Amis Propane, Inc. v. Graves
305 S.W.2d 300 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1957)
Siratt v. City of River Oaks
305 S.W.2d 207 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1957)
Zellers v. Cloud
302 S.W.2d 467 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1957)
Tex-Jersey Oil Corp. v. Beck
292 S.W.2d 803 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1956)
Driver v. Worth Construction Co.
277 S.W.2d 940 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1955)
Imogene Driver v. Worth Construction Co.
273 S.W.2d 603 (Texas Supreme Court, 1954)
Driver v. Worth Const. Co.
264 S.W.2d 174 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1953)
Siratt v. Worth Const. Co.
263 S.W.2d 842 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
264 S.W.2d 174, 1953 Tex. App. LEXIS 1694, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/driver-v-worth-const-co-texapp-1953.