NEGLIGENCE - VIOLATION OF STATUTE AS NEGLIGENCE PER SE - EXCEPTIONS TO THE DOCTRINE

Plaintiff's intestate was driving along the main thoroughfare when B drove into the main highway from a side street without stopping, thereby colliding with the automobile of the intestate. Two days prior to this accident an automobile owned by S negligently collided with one of the defendant's buses with the consequence that defendant's bus, without negligence on defendant's part, knocked down an arterial stop sign. This stop sign had been erected at the intersection of the main highway and the side street out of which B drove his car. A Washington statute made anyone who should deface, mutilate, tear down, or destroy any public signboards or guide posts, or danger signals or warnings, guilty of a misdemeanor.

The trial court instructed the jury to the effect that they should find for plaintiff if they found that defendant, having knocked the signal down without negligence on its part, should reasonably have discovered the destruction and reported it to the proper authorities. Defendant objected to the use of the phrase "without negligence" and made a motion for new trial. Held, the motion should have been granted. Baldwin v. Washington Motor Coach Co., (Wash.

1938) 82 P. (2d) 131.