Tates v. Toney

Sybert, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Newton Toney (appellee) and John W. Perry, Jr., the operators of two motor vehicles involved in a collision, were sued for injuries sustained by the appellant, Miriam Tates, who was a passenger in the Toney automobile. A jury rendered a ¹¹ verdict of $5,000 against the two defendants. Toney filed a motion for judgment n.o.v. or in the alternative for a new trial, the latter of which was granted on the ground that no instruction had been given as to the statutory requirement for the operator of the Perry vehicle to signal his intention to make a left turn.

Perry filed no motion or appeal, and final judgment was entered against him. Mrs. Tates now appeals from a judgment entered on a directed verdict in favor of Toney in the second trial. Shortly after 7 A.M. on December 24, 1957, the appellee, Toney, was driving his automobile eastward on Washington Boulevard in Baltimore City on his way to the Coast Guard Depot at Curtis Bay. Mrs. Tates, the appellant, a regular rider with the appellee, was in the car.

As they proceeded along an upgrade toward the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Harman Avenue, an automobile being driven in the opposite direction by Perry, turned left across the lane in which Toney was driving in order to go south on Harman Avenue. Perry testified that he gave no signal of any kind of his intention to make a left turn. Although there is some conflict in the testimony as to how far the Perry vehicle had turned into the intersection before the appellee applied his brakes, the point of impact was determined to be 6 feet north and 8 feet west of the southeast corner of Washington Boulevard and Harman Avenue. The front of appellee’s car struck the right front of the Perry vehicle.

Perry testified at one point that he did not see Toney’s car until he heard the brakes being applied and that the collision occurred at “almost the same time”, and at another point that when he heard the brakes screech and looked, Toney’s car was 60 to 70 feet from Toney’s side of the intersection, although it was difficult to estimate the distance. The skid marks indicated that appellee’s car moved 41 feet from the place where the brakes were applied to the point of impact, and then shoved the Perry car about 10 feet sideways. At the scene of the accident Washington Boulevard is 36 feet wide and is a two-lane through street which is not divided by a median strip. Perry testified he was aware that Washington Boulevard was a boulevard.

Harman Avenue, into which Perry was turning, is a one-way southbound street on the ¹² south side of Washington Boulevard (it is a two-way street on the north side) and is about 32 feet wide. There is a stop sign at the northwest corner of the intersection, facing north for southbound traffic on Harman Avenue. The exact degree of visibility at the time of the accident is somewhat in dispute, although it was established that it was daylight and that the visibility was from fair to good (about 400 feet, according to Perry). The speed limit on the boulevard was 30 miles per hour.

Appellee stated that his speed was 35 miles per hour, while a fire department expert who happened to see the accident occur estimated appellee’s speed as in excess of 50 miles per hour. Appellant testified that she had requested appellee to slow down on several occasions, which he denied. Also in evidence were admissions by the appellee that he had had only four hours’ sleep the previous night, and that he had had a couple of drinks of whiskey at one o’clock in the morning. The investigating police officer testified that appellee had the odor of alcohol on his breath, although not enough to charge him with drunken driving.

The crucial issue upon which the determination of this case turns is whether the trial court was correct in directing a verdict for the appellee based on the theory that the “boulevard law” — Code (1957), Art. 66½, Secs. 233 and 242 — applied, and that appellee was a favored driver and Perry an unfavored one. It is appellant’s contention that the boulevard law has no application to the facts of this case, and that therefore the evidence of appellee’s negligence was sufficient to warrant the submission of the case to the jury. She contends that the express terms of the statute make it clear that it was not intended to regulate vehicles moving on a boulevard or exiting therefrom, but rather that it was intended to apply only in those situations in which vehicles are in the process of making entrance onto a