BUS DRIVER WAS LIABLE AS A MATTER OF LAW, BUS CROSSED THE YELLOW LINE INTO PLAINTIFF’S ON-COMING LANE, NO EMERGENCY (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined plaintiffs’ summary judgment motion in this traffic accident case should have been granted. Defendant bus driver was aware of an upcoming sharp curve and was aware the road was slippery due to rain. The bus crossed into the on-coming lane, striking plaintiffs’ vehicle. There was no question of fact about whether the bus driver had reacted to an emergency:
“A driver is not required to anticipate that a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction will cross over into oncoming traffic” … . “Crossing a double yellow line into the opposing lane of traffic, in violation of Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1126 (a), constitutes negligence as a matter of law, unless justified by an emergency situation not of the driver’s own making”… .
Here, the plaintiffs established their prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by submitting evidence demonstrating that the defendant driver’s negligence in crossing over the double yellow line and entering the opposite lane of traffic, in which the plaintiffs’ vehicle had been traveling, was the sole proximate cause of the accident … . In opposition, the defendants failed to raise a triable issue of fact. The defendant driver’s deposition testimony indicated that she knew that there was a sharp curve in the road where she lost control of her vehicle and that rain, which had been falling for some time prior to the accident, had made the roadway slippery. Contrary to the defendants’ contention, the defendant driver merely speculated that there was oil on the ground. Thus, the defendants failed to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether the defendant driver was faced with an emergency situation not of her own making which contributed to the happening of the accident … . Browne v Logan Bus Co., Inc., 2017 NY Slip Op 09111, Second Dept 12-27-17
NEGLIGENCE (TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, BUS DRIVER WAS LIABLE AS A MATTER OF LAW, BUS CROSSED THE YELLOW LINE INTO PLAINTIFF’S ON-COMING LANE, NO EMERGENCY (SECOND DEPT))/VEHICLE AND TRAFFIC LAW (TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS, BUS DRIVER WAS LIABLE AS A MATTER OF LAW, BUS CROSSED THE YELLOW LINE INTO PLAINTIFF’S ON-COMING LANE, NO EMERGENCY (SECOND DEPT))/TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS (BUS DRIVER WAS LIABLE AS A MATTER OF LAW, BUS CROSSED THE YELLOW LINE INTO PLAINTIFF’S ON-COMING LANE, NO EMERGENCY (SECOND DEPT))