Bennis

These two causes were tried together and they may be properly disposed of by a single opinion here. The respective plaintiffs are husband and wife. They sue defendant for damages resulting from an automobile collision which occurred at a street intersection. Plaintiffs were in their car together, the husband driving. Defendant was driving his car. The two vehicles approached the intersection at right angles to each other and the occupants of each car could see the other as they approached the intersection for a distance of more than two hundred feet. Appellant says the distance may have been as much as five hundred feet. A separate judgment went for each plaintiff and defendant appeals separately from each.

Appellant confesses negligence on his part, but contends that the evidence shows without contradiction that respondent driver was guilty of contributory negligence which was the proximate cause of the catastrophe. Appellant considers the incident as one in which he and Bennis were engaged in a speed contest to determine which car could be propelled across the intersection before the other. Appellant strikingly says: “Can such a race (in law) be left to a game of chance, and…