Mead v. Portland Traction Co.

313 P.2d 451, 210 Or. 643, 1957 Ore. LEXIS 311
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 3, 1957
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 313 P.2d 451 (Mead v. Portland Traction Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mead v. Portland Traction Co., 313 P.2d 451, 210 Or. 643, 1957 Ore. LEXIS 311 (Or. 1957).

Opinion

PERRY, C. J.

The plaintiff brought this action to recover for personal injuries suffered in a collision of his personally operated automobile and a bus owned and operated by the defendant. The collision occurred at the intersection of N. E. Alberta street and N. E. 27th avenue in the city of Portland. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant and the plaintiff has appealed.

Northeast Alberta street runs in an easterly-westerly direction and is intersected by N. E. 27th avenue, which runs in a northerly-southerly direction. At this intersection, Alberta street is a “through” street and a “stop sign” is located near the southeast corner of the intersection, which compels northbound traffic traveling on 27th avenue to stop before proceeding into the intersection. Where the collision occurred, Alberta street is about 36 feet wide and 27th avenue is about 30 feet wide. On September 25, 1951, at about 11:00 a.m. the plaintiff was driving his vehicle in a westerly direction on Alberta street and the defendant’s bus was being operated in a northerly direction on 27th avenue. Defendant’s bus came to a stop at the property line of the street and then proceeded into the intersection at a speed of about 8 miles per hour. At this time, the plaintiff was about 100 to 125 *645 feet from the intersection traveling at a speed estimated to be between 20 to 30 miles per hour. In the northeast quadrant of the intersection (approximately 9 feet west of the curb line of 27th avenue and 11 feet south of the curb line of Alberta street) the two vehicles collided, the left front of plaintiff’s vehicle striking defendant’s bus.

The plaintiff has assigned as error the trial court’s withdrawal from the consideration of the jury his allegation that the defendant’s bus was being driven at an excessive rate of speed and was not under proper control at the time of the accident; also, the giving of the following instruction:

“I further instruct you, the mere fact that the plaintiff’s automobile was on the right of the defendant’s bus has nothing to do whatsoever with the right-of-way between plaintiff’s automobile and the bus. Vehicles entering an intersection on the right are only given the right-of-way at intersections which are not controlled by stop signs, traffic control signals or police officers.”

It is plaintiff’s contention that this instruction was erroneous as he was entitled to the “statutory directional right of way” because at the time of the collision he was approaching from the right of the bus at an intersection not controlled by a “traffic control signal” as defined by statute (§ 115-301(bb), OCLA, now OES 483.028(2)), or by police officers.

Section 115-337(a), OCLA, now OES 483.202(1), reads as follows:

“Drivers, when approaching highway intersections, shall look out for and give right of way to vehicles on the right, simultaneously approaching a given point, whether such vehicle first enter and reach the intersection or not; provided, that the foregoing provision shall not apply at any inter *646 section where and when traffic is controlled by traffic control signals or police officers. * * *”

And subsection (b) of § 115-337, OCLA, now OES 483.202(2), reads as follows:

“The driver of any vehicle who has stopped as required by law at the entrance to a through highway shall yield to the other vehicles within the intersection or approaching so closely on the through highway as to constitute an immediate hazard, but said driver having so yielded may proceed, and other vehicles approaching the intersection on the through highway shall yield to the vehicle so proceeding into or across the through highway.”

The plaintiff contends these subsections, harmoniously construed, provide for the directional right of way, as set forth in subsection (a), for control of traffic at all highway intersections except when the intersections are controlled by “traffic control signals”, as defined in § 115-301(bb), OCLA, now OES 483.028(2), or police officers. Upon this premise, he points out that in the case at bar the traffic at the intersection was controlled only by a “stop sign” and, since a “stop sign” is not a traffic control signal as defined in the statute, the directional right of way as set out in subsection (a) applies, and the trial court erred in giving the instruction.

Plaintiff further contends that inasmuch as the legislature enacted subsection (b) into law shortly after the decision of Stotts v. Wagner, 135 Or 243, 295 P 497, its only effect was to negate the right of way allowed by that case to the driver on the subordinate street who happened to be on the right side of the driver approaching the intersection on the protected thoroughfare, and that it did not take away the “directional right of way” from the driver on the pro *647 tected thoroughfare who was approaching the intersection from the right of the motorist on the disfavored way.

In Stotts v. Wagner, supra, this court' was construing the application of a city ordinance and the “directional right of way” statute (§ 115-337(a), OCLA, now OES 483.202(1)). The city ordinance in the Stotts case, p. 247, read as follows:

“Every person operating a vehicle on any street intersecting the said through traffic streets shall bring such vehicles to a full stop upon entering or crossing such through traffic streets as such vehicle shall not have the right of way until it proceeds after making such stop.”

It is to be noted that the ordinance made no attempt to define what right of way was granted the driver on the intersecting street after stopping, and we correctly held that the right of way granted the driver of a vehicle on the street which intersected the through traffic street, after stopping, was the directional right of way provided by statute.

But the Stotts case, supra, which harmonized the city ordinance and the directional right of way statute, and the cases of similar import from other jurisdictions, relied upon by the plaintiff, are not now applicable to a situation which involves the intersecting of a through highway with one not so designated. Since the Stotts decision the legislature enacted subsection (b) of § 115-337, OCLA, supra, which sets forth the rights of the driver upon the disfavored or ordinary highway at its intersection with a through or favored highway, after stopping in compliance with the command of the statute.

Section 550 of the California Vehicle Code provides for directional right of way at ordinary road inter *648 sections in the same manner as subsection (a) of § 115-337, OCLA, supra. Also, section 552 of the California Vehicle Code makes provision for traffic control at intersections of ordinary highways and through highways. It reads as follows :

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Related

Johnson v. Bennett
357 P.2d 527 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1960)
McReynolds v. Howland
346 P.2d 127 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1959)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
313 P.2d 451, 210 Or. 643, 1957 Ore. LEXIS 311, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mead-v-portland-traction-co-or-1957.