Armstrong

The defendant appeals from a judgment in an action for personal injuries rendered after a jury verdict in favor of plaintiff.

The plaintiff, a pedestrian, was injured shortly after midnight when crossing from west to east on a four lane 68 foot highway, known as San Pablo Avenue in San Pablo in Contra Costa County. The pedestrian plaintiff, in the service of the United States Navy, with a Miss Chambers, personnel counselor at one of the Richmand shipyards in Contra Costa County, had visited a resort where dancing and service of intoxicating liquors were permitted. Upon leaving the resort, plaintiff, with his companion, after looking up and down the street, started to proceed across the street without recourse to a marked crossing to reach a parked car on the opposite side of the highway. The night was drizzly and visibility poor. Defendant was driving north with his wife and two companions to his place of business, a bar, to collect the cash at closing time. No other traffic was proceeding north or south.

The plaintiff’s theory of the accident was that defendant was coming at an excessive speed with his left wheels over the dividing line between the north and south traffic and…