[627]*627LAWSON, Justice.
This is a suit brought by Mrs. Mae Battles, as administratrix, under the homicide statute, § 123, Title 7, Code 1940, against Thomas Lawrence Johnson for the .unlawful death of her husband, George 'Battles.
The case was submitted to the jury on one count charging simple negligence, and the plea of' the general issue in short by consent in the usual form. There was jury verdict for plaintiff. Judgment was in accord-with the verdict. -Defendant’s motion- for new trial was overruled and he has appealed to this court.
Reversal of the judgment appealed from is sought on three-grounds: (1) that the trial court erred in sustaining plaintiff’s objection to certain questions propounded plaintiff’s witness Tucker by the defendant on ■ cross-examination; (2) the refusal of the' trial court to give the general affirmative charge with hypothesis, as requested by the defendant; (3) failure of the trial court to grant defendant a new .trial, on the ground that the verdict was against the great weight of the evidence.
On 'cross-examination of Highway Patrolman Tucker, who was called as a witness for the plaintiff, the trial court sustained plaintiff’s objections to the following questions:
“Q. Mr. Tucker, you said that you measured skidmarks back up the road from the intersection of seventy-two feet, and I believe you said you had been investigating automobile accidents -for .five years. From your experience in investigating aqtomobile accidents and other training- with the Highway Department, are you able to form an opinion as to the speed of an automobile as indicated .by skidmarks ?
iji % í|í
“Q. Mr. Tucker, in your opinion, skid-marks as you saw there and measured, with the - type of automobile Mr. Johnson was driving, on a highway of that kind, going down hill, going down a grade, would skid-marks of seventy-two feet indicate to you that the Johnson car was traveling at an excessive rate of speed?
* * * * * *
“Q. Mr. Tucker, from your experience can you form an opinion from skidmarks on highways such as you observed at the scene of this collision at what speed an automobile making those skidmarks was traveling?”
Assuming that one shown to be an expert may express an opinion as' to the estimated speed of an automobile, predicated on the ‘distance the tires “skidded” or were dragged along the pavement, Jackson v. Vaughn, 204 Ala. 543, 86 So. 469; 70 A.L.R. 544; 156 A.L.R. 383, reversible error does not appear in connection with the trial court’s action in sustaining plaintiff’s objections to the questions hérétofore set out. It is well established that 'the inquiry as to the competency of a witness to testify as an expert is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court, whose decision on the evidence will not be disturbed on appeal except for palpable abuse. Kirby v. Brooks, 215 Ala. 507, 111 So. 235; Southern Bitulithic Co. v. Perrine, 191 Ala. 411, 67 So. 601; Neyman v. Alabama Great Southern R. Co., 174. Ala. 613, 57 So. 435. We are not willing to say that it is made to appear clearly that there was-any abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court when the only evidence as to the witness’ qualification to testify as an expert was -that he had been a member' of the Highway Patrol for five and a half years, during which time he had investigated many automobile accidents.
The defendant was not entitled to the affirmative, charge on the ground that there was not sufficient evidence to go to. the [628]*628jury to showr that the death of plaintiff’s intestate resulted from injuries received in the automobile 'collision.
Plaintiff’s intestate was injured in an automobile collision which occurred on the highway leading from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham on the afternoon of September 11, 1948, when the 1937 Dodge automobile in which intestate was riding as a passenger collided with an automobile owned and being driven by defendant. Plaintiff’s intestate died on March 12, 1949, approximately six months after the accident. The evidence shows that intestate was well and strong prior to the accident and that he was confined to his bed from the time of the accident to the date of his death. The only evidence showing that intestate’s death resulted from injury received in the automobile collision was a copy of a death certificate certified by the State Registrar of the Bureau of Vital Statistics of the Alabama Department of Public Health, which was properly certified by the designated •bureau clerk. The certificate of death sufficiently shows that the plaintiff’s intestate died from uremic poisoning resulting from a fractured pelvis received in an automobile accident.
This information is required to be set out in the certificate of death under the provisions of § 25, Title 22, Code 1940. In pertinent part said section provides: “ * • * * The medical certificate shall be made and signed by the physician, if any, last in attendance on the deceased, who shall specify the time in attendance, the time he last saw the deceased alive, and the hour of the day at which death occurred. He shall further state the cause of death, so as to show the course of the disease or sequence of causes resulting in the death, giving first the name of the disease causing death (primary cause) and the contributory (secondary) cause, if any, and the duration of each. * * * 1 Causes of death which may be the result of either disease or violence shall be carefully defined; and if from violence, the means of injury shall be stated, and whether (probably) accidental, suicidal or homicidal.
Section 42, Title 22, Code 1940, provides in part as follows: “ * * * Any such copy of the record of a birth or death, when properly certified by the state registrar, shall be prima facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts therein stated.”
We think that the 'certificate of death, duly certified, when taken in connection with the evidence tending to show the condition of plaintiff’s intestate prior to the accident and subsequent thereto, is sufficient to make out a prima facie showing that intestate’s death resulted from injuries received in the highway accident which occurred on September 11, 1948. It then became the duty of defendant to overcome or rebut the presumption made by the certificate of death. American Life Ins. Co. v. Williams, 234 Ala. 469, 175 So. 554, 112 A.L.R. 1215, and cases cited.
On September 11, 1948, the date on which the accident on which this suit is based occurred, one Jack Dailey and Abram Kizziah were at the home of George Battles, plaintiff’s intestate. Battles requested Dailey, who owned an automobile, to drive him to the home of one Jack Martin. Dailey told Battles that he didn’t feel like driving, but that they could go in Dailey’s car if Kizziah would drive.. The three of them left Battles’ home, with Kizziah driving the car, Battles riding on the front seat to the right of the driver, and the owner of the car, Jack Dailey, riding on the back seat.
They reached the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham highway which, for present purposes, we will treat as running north and south, and had proceeded in a northly direction approximately a mile and a half on that highway when the accident occurred. Jack Martin, to whose home they were driving, lived west of the highway.
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[627]*627LAWSON, Justice.
This is a suit brought by Mrs. Mae Battles, as administratrix, under the homicide statute, § 123, Title 7, Code 1940, against Thomas Lawrence Johnson for the .unlawful death of her husband, George 'Battles.
The case was submitted to the jury on one count charging simple negligence, and the plea of' the general issue in short by consent in the usual form. There was jury verdict for plaintiff. Judgment was in accord-with the verdict. -Defendant’s motion- for new trial was overruled and he has appealed to this court.
Reversal of the judgment appealed from is sought on three-grounds: (1) that the trial court erred in sustaining plaintiff’s objection to certain questions propounded plaintiff’s witness Tucker by the defendant on ■ cross-examination; (2) the refusal of the' trial court to give the general affirmative charge with hypothesis, as requested by the defendant; (3) failure of the trial court to grant defendant a new .trial, on the ground that the verdict was against the great weight of the evidence.
On 'cross-examination of Highway Patrolman Tucker, who was called as a witness for the plaintiff, the trial court sustained plaintiff’s objections to the following questions:
“Q. Mr. Tucker, you said that you measured skidmarks back up the road from the intersection of seventy-two feet, and I believe you said you had been investigating automobile accidents -for .five years. From your experience in investigating aqtomobile accidents and other training- with the Highway Department, are you able to form an opinion as to the speed of an automobile as indicated .by skidmarks ?
iji % í|í
“Q. Mr. Tucker, in your opinion, skid-marks as you saw there and measured, with the - type of automobile Mr. Johnson was driving, on a highway of that kind, going down hill, going down a grade, would skid-marks of seventy-two feet indicate to you that the Johnson car was traveling at an excessive rate of speed?
* * * * * *
“Q. Mr. Tucker, from your experience can you form an opinion from skidmarks on highways such as you observed at the scene of this collision at what speed an automobile making those skidmarks was traveling?”
Assuming that one shown to be an expert may express an opinion as' to the estimated speed of an automobile, predicated on the ‘distance the tires “skidded” or were dragged along the pavement, Jackson v. Vaughn, 204 Ala. 543, 86 So. 469; 70 A.L.R. 544; 156 A.L.R. 383, reversible error does not appear in connection with the trial court’s action in sustaining plaintiff’s objections to the questions hérétofore set out. It is well established that 'the inquiry as to the competency of a witness to testify as an expert is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court, whose decision on the evidence will not be disturbed on appeal except for palpable abuse. Kirby v. Brooks, 215 Ala. 507, 111 So. 235; Southern Bitulithic Co. v. Perrine, 191 Ala. 411, 67 So. 601; Neyman v. Alabama Great Southern R. Co., 174. Ala. 613, 57 So. 435. We are not willing to say that it is made to appear clearly that there was-any abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court when the only evidence as to the witness’ qualification to testify as an expert was -that he had been a member' of the Highway Patrol for five and a half years, during which time he had investigated many automobile accidents.
The defendant was not entitled to the affirmative, charge on the ground that there was not sufficient evidence to go to. the [628]*628jury to showr that the death of plaintiff’s intestate resulted from injuries received in the automobile 'collision.
Plaintiff’s intestate was injured in an automobile collision which occurred on the highway leading from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham on the afternoon of September 11, 1948, when the 1937 Dodge automobile in which intestate was riding as a passenger collided with an automobile owned and being driven by defendant. Plaintiff’s intestate died on March 12, 1949, approximately six months after the accident. The evidence shows that intestate was well and strong prior to the accident and that he was confined to his bed from the time of the accident to the date of his death. The only evidence showing that intestate’s death resulted from injury received in the automobile collision was a copy of a death certificate certified by the State Registrar of the Bureau of Vital Statistics of the Alabama Department of Public Health, which was properly certified by the designated •bureau clerk. The certificate of death sufficiently shows that the plaintiff’s intestate died from uremic poisoning resulting from a fractured pelvis received in an automobile accident.
This information is required to be set out in the certificate of death under the provisions of § 25, Title 22, Code 1940. In pertinent part said section provides: “ * • * * The medical certificate shall be made and signed by the physician, if any, last in attendance on the deceased, who shall specify the time in attendance, the time he last saw the deceased alive, and the hour of the day at which death occurred. He shall further state the cause of death, so as to show the course of the disease or sequence of causes resulting in the death, giving first the name of the disease causing death (primary cause) and the contributory (secondary) cause, if any, and the duration of each. * * * 1 Causes of death which may be the result of either disease or violence shall be carefully defined; and if from violence, the means of injury shall be stated, and whether (probably) accidental, suicidal or homicidal.
Section 42, Title 22, Code 1940, provides in part as follows: “ * * * Any such copy of the record of a birth or death, when properly certified by the state registrar, shall be prima facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts therein stated.”
We think that the 'certificate of death, duly certified, when taken in connection with the evidence tending to show the condition of plaintiff’s intestate prior to the accident and subsequent thereto, is sufficient to make out a prima facie showing that intestate’s death resulted from injuries received in the highway accident which occurred on September 11, 1948. It then became the duty of defendant to overcome or rebut the presumption made by the certificate of death. American Life Ins. Co. v. Williams, 234 Ala. 469, 175 So. 554, 112 A.L.R. 1215, and cases cited.
On September 11, 1948, the date on which the accident on which this suit is based occurred, one Jack Dailey and Abram Kizziah were at the home of George Battles, plaintiff’s intestate. Battles requested Dailey, who owned an automobile, to drive him to the home of one Jack Martin. Dailey told Battles that he didn’t feel like driving, but that they could go in Dailey’s car if Kizziah would drive.. The three of them left Battles’ home, with Kizziah driving the car, Battles riding on the front seat to the right of the driver, and the owner of the car, Jack Dailey, riding on the back seat.
They reached the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham highway which, for present purposes, we will treat as running north and south, and had proceeded in a northly direction approximately a mile and a half on that highway when the accident occurred. Jack Martin, to whose home they were driving, lived west of the highway.
The collision occurred at a point a short distance south of the road into which Kizziah intended to turn and drive in a westerly direction to get to the home of Martin
The defendant, Johnson, at the time of the collision, was proceeding in a southerly direction on the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham highway.
[629]*629The testimony as to how the accident occurred is in sharp conflict.
The only witness who testified for the plaintiff as to the manner in which the collision occurred was the driver of the automobile, Kizziah. According to his testimony, he had stopped the automobile on the eastern side of the highway and held out his left hand preparatory to making a turn into the road which led to the home of Martin; that a car proceeding in a southerly direction turned from the western side of the highway in front of him and proceeded on down the shoulder on the east side of the highway; that shortly thereafter the car driven by the defendant followed the path of the first car until it reached the point where the car which Kizziah was driving was located, and the right side of Johnson’s car hit the right side of the car driven by Kizziah and propelled it across the highway, where it stopped on the western side thereof, with the Johnson car ultimately coming to a stop on the eastern side of the highway. According to Kizziah, the defendant, Johnson, at the time of the collision was traveling at a speed estimated to be between seventy and seventy-five miles an hour. The place where the collision occurred was between 250 and 300 feet below the crest of a hill. The traffic was heavy, the day clear and the road dry.
The defendant, Johnson, testified that he came over the crest of the hill at a speed of approximately fifty miles an hour; that the car driven by Kizziah pulled out from behind a large truck and turned from the eastern side of the highway toward the western side as if to go onto the side road and turned directly in front of him; that he put on his brakes as soon as he saw the car driven by Kizziah begin to turn and that his brakes “screeched” and skidmarks were left a distance of approximately ninety-two feet. According to Johnson, the right-hand fender of his car hit the center of the right side of the car driven by Kizziah and knocked it over on the western side of the highway and that his car, that is, Johnson’s car, finally came to rest some distance south of the point of collision on the eastern side of the highway. A picture of the automobile driven by Kizziah which was introduced in evidence strongly tends to support Johnson’s version as to the location of Kizziah’s car at the time of the impact.
A Mr. and Mrs. Sigler, who were traveling toward Birmingham on the afternoon of the collision and who were in the second car behind the car driven by Kizziah, substantiated his testimony in several material respects.
The foregoing is not a complete statement of the testimony introduced in the case, but we think it will suffice for the purposes of this appeal.
The burden was, of course, on the plaintiff to prove that the negligence of the defendant was a proximate cause of the injuries to her intestate. We are clear to the conclusion that the evidence relating to the speed of the automobile driven by the defendant, under the prevailing condiditions, was sufficient to justify a finding by the jury that the negligence of the defendant was a proximate cause of the injury.
But counsel for defendant strenuously argues that nevertheless plaintiff was not entitled to a verdict because of the defense of contributory negligence. As to this defense, of course, the burden was upon the defendant to prove it.
Plaintiff’s intestate was riding as a passenger in the automobile driven by Kizziah. It is the generally recognized rule that a person riding in an automobile driven by another, even though not chargeable with the driver’s negligence, is not absolved from all care for his own safety, but is under the duty to exercise reasonable or ordinary care to avoid injury; that is, such care as an ordinarily prudent person would exercise under like circumstances. McDermott v. Sibert, 218 Ala. 670, 119 So. 681. There is no evidence in this case which would support a finding that the plaintiff’s intestate was himself guilty of negligence. It is- not so contended by counsel for appellant.
It is contended, however, that Kizziah, the driver of the automobile in which intestate was riding as a passenger, was guilty of negligence which proximately caused [630]*630the .injuries' and -that; ■ therefore, plaintiff is not entitled to:, recover-.. .
But Kizziah’s negligence, if any, could not bar a, recovery by plaintiff unless his negligence was’ imputable to plaintiff’s intestate: It is a commonplace of the law that ordinarily a passenger in an automobile driven by another, over whom he has- no control, is not; oil that state of fact, without more, chargeable with contributory negligence. St. Louis-San Francisco R. Co. v. Norwood, 222 Ala. 464, 133 So. 27; Birmingham Electric Co. v. Turner, 241 Ala. 66, 1 So.2d 299; Moore v. Cruit, 238 Ala. 414, 191 So. 252; Roberts v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 237 Ala. 267, 186 So. 457; Morgan Hill Paving Co. v. Fonville, 218 Ala. 566, 119 So. 610; Id., 222 Ala. 120, 130 So. 807; Id., 224 Ala. 383, 140 So. 575; Newell Contracting Co. v. Berry, 223 Ala. 109, 134 So. 870; Strickland v. Davis, 221 Ala. 247, 128 So. 233.
The cases above cited- support the conclusion that the -evidence presented on this appeal makes no case of joint adventure or joint enterprise in the operation of a car in which plaintiff’s intestate was an occupant. .' . .
The fact that the occupant is' a passenger at-his own request does'not affect his status. Faltico v. Minneapolis Street Ry. Co., 198 Minn. 88, 268 N.W. 857, 65 C.J.S., Negligence, § 168, page 823. In Keller v. Keystone Furniture Co., 132 Pa.Super. 547, 1 A.2d 562, it was- held in effect that the mere fact that the passenger’s husband’ owned the-vehicle and that the operator was--driving at the owner’s request does not make the operator the agent 'of 'the guest or establish the guest’s right to share in the -control of the vehicle.
The rule is well established that in order to create the imputation of negligence of the driver to the passenger, the passenger must- have assumed control and direction of the vehicle or must have some right to a voice in the control, management or direction Of the vehicle. 65 C.J.S., Negligence, § .168, pages 822-825; Crescent Motor Co. v. Stone, 211 Ala. 516, 101 So. 4.
We are inclined to agree with the assertion made by counsel for appellant that the great weight of the evidence shows that tire car driven by Kizziah had proceeded from the eastern side of the highway toward, -the western side and was partly on the western.side of the highway at the time of the impact. But even if it be assumed that su-ch act on the part of Kizziah was negligent, it does not follow that the plaintiff was not entitled to recover under the evidence in this case, since any negligence of Kizziah cannot be imputed to plaintiff’s intestate.
We have heretofore indicated that the evidence in this case was sufficient to support a finding by the jury that the defendant was guilty of negligence which proximately caused the injury to intestate. If the negligence of Kizziah, if any, which is not imputable to intestate, and the negligence of the defendant were concurring proximate causes of injury, the plaintiff was entitled to recover. Roberts v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 237 Ala. 267, 186 So. 457. In Moore v. Cruit, supra, 238 Ala. 419, 191 So. 255, it was said: “Nor is it' essential for. plaintiff’s recovery that negligence of defendant’s driver be shown asth'6 sole proximate cause of his injuries. If 'is sufficient that his negligence, concurring with one or more efficient causes, other than plaintiff’s fault, is the proximate cause. Chambers v. Cox, 222 Ala. 1, 130 So. 416.”
We hold, therefore, that the trial court did not err in refusing the affirmative charge as requested by the defendant and in overruling his motion for a new trial on the ground that the verdict is -contrary to the great weight of the evidence.
The judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
BROWN, FOSTER and STAKELY, JJ., concur. ’ •