Grimes

This is an action for personal injury. The negligence upon which the action is predicated, as disclosed by the allegations in the complaint and the evidence in support thereof, consists of defendant’s failure to maintain lights upon the rear end of a combination of vehicles, consisting of a truck and trailer, which, it is claimed, was standing on the paved or improved portion of a public highway before sunrise, during the early morning hours of the day of the accident.

The testimony of the respondent may be summarized as follows: That on the fifteenth day of March, 1928, he was driving and operating an 8-cylinder V-type motor Peerless touring car on the state highway between Bakersfield and Los Angeles; his headlights had recently been adjusted and conformed to all provisions of the California Vehicle Act; that he could discern any substantial object on the highway ahead of him at a distance of 200 feet; his brakes had recently been adjusted, and were in good working order; shortly before the accident occurred he had been driving his ear at a lawful rate of speed and at no time in excess of 40 miles per hour. At the hour of about 5 -.15 A. M., and while it was still dark, he…