Smack v. Whitt

Barnes, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This appeal involves a collision between a passenger automobile and a truck at the intersection of Camden Avenue and College Avenue in the City of Salisbury, Wicomico County on April 19, 1965, at approximately 10:15 a.m. The appellant, Mrs. Darlene J. Smack, and her mother Mrs. Virginia Elizabeth Whitt, had been shopping in Salisbury on the morning of April 19. After the shopping was completed, Mrs. Smack was driving her Falcon automobile, with Mrs. Whitt as her sole passenger, seated on the right-hand front seat, in a southerly direction on Camden Avenue, which runs in a north-south direction.

Camden Avenue is 32 feet wide from curb to curb. It intersects College Avenue which runs in an east-west direction. College Avenue has a width of 40 feet from curb to curb on the east side of the intersection with Camden Avenue and has a width of 30 feet on the west side of the intersection. Both streets are paved with macadam and are available for two-way traffic.

The posted speed limit for both streets is thirty miles per hour. The day was clear and the streets were dry. ⁵³⁴ Traffic was controlled by a traffic light hung approximately in the center of the intersection. Its sequence was: green 26 seconds, amber 4 seconds, red 30 seconds. This sequence is the same for both Camden and College Avenues.

At the time of the collision the traffic light was operating properly. The appellee, Woodrow Schoolfield, aged 27 with no prior traffic violations, had been employed by the appellee, J. Roland Dashiell & Sons, Incorporated (Dashiell), for nine years as an equipment operator, which included the operation of the corporation’s trucks. On April 19, while in the course of his employment, he was operating a Ford tandem 10 wheel dump truck loaded with top soil in a westerly direction on College Avenue. He testified that as he approached the intersection of College Avenue with Camden Avenue, at a speed of between fifteen and twenty miles per hour, he noticed that the traffic light was red as he approached it and started to slow down.

Before he came to a full stop, however, the light turned green when he was fifty feet from it and he then proceeded to drive through the intersection. When he was in the intersection with the traffic light approximately over the cab of the truck he noticed the Smack automobile coming south on Camden Avenue. He first saw it “back to the second house” from the intersection, which he estimated to be about 150 to 200 feet, coming at a speed which he thought would not enable the operator to stop. He then applied his brakes and stopped the truck without leaving any skid marks.

He heard the screeching of tires and the Smack automobile struck the truck on the right side damaging the right front fender, the right portion of the front bumper and a step on the side of the truck. The damages to the truck amounted to approximately $200. Mr. Schoolfield was not injured. The Smack automobile was completely demolished and both Mrs. Smack and Mrs. Whitt were injured.

They were each rendered unconscious and thereafter taken to the hospital. Mr. School-field immediately rendered assistance. The investigating police officer testified in regard to the relevant physical facts. He stated that there were no skid marks left by the truck, but that skid marks left by the Smack vehicle measured 46 feet.

There were no defects observed in either vehicle. The left side of the Smack vehicle came into contact with the truck. ⁵³⁵ Mrs. Smack testified that when she was “about a hundred fifty feet” or “about one hundred feet” from the intersection of Camden and College Avenues she looked at the traffic light and saw that it was green. She did not look again at the light and did not know the color of the light as she entered the intersection. She was proceeding at about 25 miles per hour.

As she approached the intersection she saw the truck coming west on College Avenue. She “did not think he could stop, he was going so fast. So I applied my brakes.” She “couldn’t say for sure what speed it was but he was going pretty fast. * * * I don’t know what he was driving.” Mrs. Whitt testified that she looked at the traffic light about 100 to 125 feet from the intersection. She noticed that it was green, did not look at it again, heard brakes, looked at the truck and saw “the truck and car getting ready to hit.” She estimated the speed of the Smack vehicle as 25 to 30 miles per hour.

Three eye witnesses, in addition to Mr. Schoolfield, testified that the traffic light showed green for College Avenue when the truck entered the intersection. Abel Johnson who was driving an empty truck owned by Dashiell east on College Avenue saw the traffic light as he approached the intersection of College and Camden Avenues. He saw the light turn green when he got to the second house from the intersection — a distance of approximately 50 feet — and saw the truck operated by Mr. Schoolfield approaching the intersection. He then heard “tires squealing” and saw the Smack automobile “coming down, couldn’t stop, and I completely stopped ahead of it, back on the other side.” He saw the collision coming and it looked like the truck operated by Mr. Schoolfield had completely stopped. “She was skidding. * * * [T]he car skidded into the truck as far as I could see my end of it because it didn’t seem to me the truck was moving.” Sharon Eowe and her twin sister Sheryl Towe, 15 years of age and in the tenth grade in school, lived at 408 West College Avenue, the fourth house from the intersection.

They were walking on College Avenue away from the intersection (it was Easter Monday, a school holiday) when they heard the screeching of tires, turned around, looked at the light and saw that it ⁵³⁶ was green for College Avenue. The collision very shortly occurred. The original action in this matter (No. 5673 Civil) was filed by Mrs. Whitt and her husband against Mr. Schoolfield and Dashiell as defendants to recover for their damages. The defendants interpleaded Mrs. Smack as a third-party defendant and thereafter the Whitts filed an amended declaration including Mr. Smack as a joint defendant.

The second action (No. 5882 Civil) was then filed by Mrs. Smack against Mr. School-field and Dashiell to recover for her damages. The two cases were consolidated for trial and a jury trial was held on