Tingle v. Rogers

134 So. 2d 110, 1961 La. App. LEXIS 1377
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 26, 1961
DocketNo. 9547
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 134 So. 2d 110 (Tingle v. Rogers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tingle v. Rogers, 134 So. 2d 110, 1961 La. App. LEXIS 1377 (La. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

AYRES, Judge.

This is an action for damages allegedly sustained by plaintiff in a collision between a motor scooter and an automobile. The accident occurred at the intersection of Line Avenue and Kings Highway, two concrete-paved four-lane thoroughfares of the City of Shreveport. The former, running in a general north and south course, is in-' tersected and crossed at right angles by the latter. The movement of traffic through this intersection is controlled by the usual traffic light suspended above the intersection.

Plaintiff, on a motor scooter, was proceeding south on Line Avenue near thé center of the southbound traffic lanes, with the intention to continue in a southerly direction. Defendant, in his automobile, was driving north on Line Avenue on the left, or inner, traffic lane for northbound traffic with the intention to make a left turn and to proceed in a westerly direction on Kings Highway. The point of impact was four feet, ten inches east of the crosswalk across Kings Highway on the west side of Line Avenue and slightly north of the center [111]*111of Kings Highway. The motor scooter struck the rear end of the right back fender of defendant’s car as the car was completing a left-hand turn.

Negligence charged to defendant Rogers consists of excessive speed, not maintaining a proper lookout or keeping his vehicle under control, and attempting a left turn without first determining that the movement could be made in safety. These charges of negligence were denied by the defendants, who charged plaintiff with negligence constituting the proximate cause or, in the alternative, a contributing cause of the accident. Contained in these charges are particular specifications that plaintiff failed to keep or maintain a proper lookout when entering the intersection or to accord the right of way to defendant Rogers, who had almost completed his left-turn movement in the negotiation of the intersection, failed to keep his motor scooter under control and drove it at an excessive rate of speed in a school speed zone, with defective and improper brakes, and failed to take evasive action in an effort to avoid running into and striking defendant’s automobile.

From an adverse judgment, plaintiff appealed.

In supplemental and amended answers, defendants, in reconvention, sought to recover damages sustained by defendant’s automobile, and sought a deduction from any award in plaintiff’s favor for workmen’s compensation and medical expenses' theretofore paid by the defendant, Aetna Casualty & Surety Company. Silence of the judgment in these respects is tantamount to a rejection of the same. No point is raised by the defendants on the appeal as to these claims. Hence, they may be considered abandoned.

The issues presented for determination are factual in nature. The facts as to the occurrence, briefly stated, are as follows:

As Rogers, proceeding from the south on Line Avenue, approached the intersection, the traffic light was green, or favorable, for traffic proceeding north and south on Line Avenue. There were cars, both southbound and northbound, on the left, or inner, traffic lanes. The drivers of the lead cars, one of which was Rogers, intended to make left turns. As Rogers arrived at the intersection with this intention, he brought his car to a stop to permit traffic to clear the intersection before attempting his left turn. Similar action was taken by drivers of the southbound cars on the inner traffic lane. As the southbound traffic began such maneuver, Rogers likewise proceeded to turn left, after first observing no traffic approaching, at the time, in the west, or right-hand southbound traffic lane. After Rogers had reached the midway point of his turn, he observed plaintiff’s motor scooter approaching upgrade from the north on Line Avenue at an apparently excessive rate of speed; whereupon, he, in order to avoid a collision, accelerated his own speed. Nevertheless, the collision occurred as Rogers had almost completed the negotiation of the intersection.

Rogers’ vision northward was obstructed by the string of cars headed south and stopped on the inner, southbound traffic lane. Therefore, he did not see the motor scooter until after he had started his car and had reached a point approximately midway of the southbound traffic lanes. Plaintiff testified that he saw Rogers’ automobile at the time it started its left-hand turn, but, nevertheless, he continued forward without making any serious effort to prevent or avoid an accident.

Plaintiff’s testimony is at variance with his statement made soon after the accident occurred. In contradiction to his testimony that his speed was within the 15-mile limit and that he only saw defendant’s car when a car-and-a-half length away, his statement was that he was traveling about 25 m. p. h. and that he saw defendant’s car when he was three to four car lengths from the intersection.

Plaintiff’s testimony was likewise contradictory as to the condition of the brakes [112]*112on his motor scooter. He testified during the trial that his brakes were good; whereas, he had given the statement that “When I saw this car I hit my brakes. The brakes were real bad on the scooter. They would grab and throw you off if you weren’t careful. I had been riding the scooter about a week and I knew that they were bad.”

Plaintiff contends that defendant Rogers was negligent in attempting the aforesaid left turn. Whether, under the aforesaid statement of facts, Rogers was guilty of negligence is of no moment or importance.

However, it may be pointed out that the decisions are so replete with pronouncements that a left-hand turn is a dangerous maneuver and should not be attempted unless it is first ascertained, with reasonable certainty, that the maneuver can be made in safety and without obstructing the normal movement of traffic, that citation of authority is unnecessary. Nevertheless, it was pointed out in Paggett v. Travelers Indemnity Company, La.App. 2d Cir., 1957, 99 So.2d 173, that it is erroneous to assume that the driver of a vehicle, who undertakes a left-hand turn, is guilty of negligence, per se, in the event an accident occurs.

From the record, plaintiff’s negligence of, at least, a contributory character has been amply established. He was proceeding in a school zone at a speed greatly in excess of that permitted by law. He was apprized of such speed limitation by an appropriate sign placed in the middle of the street which he had passed while proceeding upgrade to the intersection. Not only were his brakes bad, but he was also passing a string of vehicles stopped at the intersection obscuring his view to the left. It would have been clear to any reasonable person making the slightest observation that these cars were stopped for some purpose.

To enter and attempt to negotiate an intersection without taking any precautions or making any attempt to evaluate the situation is not commensurate with the action of a reasonable, prudent person. In Kientz v. Charles Dennery, 209 La. 144, 24 So.2d 292, 294, it was appropriately stated by the Supreme Court that:

“It can not and will not be disputed that a motorist, who recklessly and without exercising some degree of caution enters an intersection on a favorable light, is not free from negligence if he collides with another motorist who enters an intersection on an unfavorable light. And it can not and will not be disputed that a motorist can not, in the face of imminent danger, rely upon the right of way accorded him by law. * * * ”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
134 So. 2d 110, 1961 La. App. LEXIS 1377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tingle-v-rogers-lactapp-1961.