Boyle

The trial court, sitting without a jury, rendered a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, awarding him damages for injuries suffered in an automobile collision. The defendant appealed from the judgment.

The accident occurred at about 8 P. M. in the evening on September 5, 1929, on San Pablo Avenue, at a point a few feet south of Dartmouth Avenue safety station. The defendant was driving south and the plaintiff, a police officer, was going in the same direction, riding on a motorcycle. It was the theory of the plaintiff that the defendant was guilty of negligence because, at the time of the accident and for a distance of three thousand feet back from the place of the accident the plaintiff was blowing his siren; that the defendant heard it for as much as twelve seconds before the impact, but she did not drive her car to the right-hand side of the road and stop until the emergency vehicle had passed (sec. 133, California Vehicle Act). There was evidence to sustain that theory and the defendant does not seriously contend to the contrary.

However, the defendant vigorously asserts that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence because he did not exercise more care than he…