Hoffman

This is an appeal from a judgment and the verdict of a jury awarding plaintiff $16,175 damages for personal injuries sustained in a railroad crossing accident. Appellants seek a reversal of the judgment on practically all of the statutory grounds, hut rely chiefly upon the refusal of the trial court to charge the jury with respect to the doctrine of contributory negligence.

The injuries complained of were the result of a collision between a Buick automobile driven by plaintiff and the passenger train of defendant, Southern Pacific Company, at a railroad crossing five miles northerly from Merced, which accident occurred about 7:30 o ’clock on the morning of January 5, 1924. The Oakdale branch of the Southern Pacific Railway runs from Merced to Stockton through an open and fiat country. Prom Merced northerly to and beyond the crossing where the accident occurred the Cox Perry highway extends parallel with and adjacent to the railroad right of way. Upon this highway and about one mile southerly from the point of the accident toward Merced the plaintiff had lived for about a year and was perfectly familiar with the crossing in question, with the entire surroundings, and in a general…