Billotti v. Saval

Pabke, J\, delivered the opinion of the Court. At the conclusion of the testimony offered by the plaintiff, the court granted a prayer directing a verdict for the defendant, in whose favor a judgment was entered. The propriety of this action on the prayer is the single question on this appeal. The automobile of the plaintiff collided with the truck of' the defendant on the clear morning of December 23rd, 1931, at the intersection of Eutaw Place and Mosher Street in Baltimore City.

Eutaw Place runs north and south, and Mosher Street extends east and west. Between the intersections of the streets, the central portion of Eutaw Place is. parked, to a width of thirty-five feet, and is thus separated into two highways or lanes of travel of about fifteen feet in width. The north-bound traffic on Eutaw Place is on the-eastern lane of travel, and the south-bound traffic is on the western lane. At the intersection mentioned, Mosher Street is about twenty feet wide with eight feet of sidewalk on ⁵⁶⁵ either side.

The sidewalk on either side of Eutaw JPlace is from nine to ten feet wide. On both streets the buildings in the neighborhood of the accident extend to the inner line of the sidewalks in an unbroken front. The plaintiff, with his wife, was driving west on Mosher Street, and the defendant was driving north on Eutaw Place. The plaintiff offered evidence tending to prove that he was proceeding slowly and carefully to his right on Mosher Street, and that, when he arrived at the building line on Entaw Place, he looked to his left a distance of about- forty-five or fifty feet, although he could have had an unobstructed view of two blocks, and, seeing no one approaching, he drove in a slow and careful manner as far as the middle of the eastern lane of travel on Eutaw Place, when he first observed the defendant’s truck approaching at great- speed; and that he attempted to speed up to get out of the way, but that, when his automobile had advanced to a point in the intersection where the rear of the automobile was in line with the eastern border of the parking on Eutaw Place, the truck of the defendant, although he had suddenly applied his brakes, skidded about- twenty feet diagonally across Eutaw Place and struck the rear left- wheel of