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Holland v. Bartch, 120 Ind 46, 22 NE 83 (1889). A carriage driver pulled by two "gentle and well-broken" horses met an oncoming bicyclist riding at 15 mph in the center of the road. The horses became spooked when the bicyclist was 25 feet away, and they ran away at high speed and upset the carriage. The complaint alleged the bicycle was an "unusual vehicle" with a wheel 60" in diameter. Judgment for defendant affirmed. From the Indiana Supreme Court's opinion: "In determining the sufficiency of these paragraphs of complaint, it is proper to consider the rights of the parties. The acts of negligence charged in each of these paragraphs of complaint is the riding of the bicycle upon and along the center of the highway, at the rate of 15 miles per hour, up to and within 25 feet of the faces of the horses. ... Although but few courts have passed upon and defined the rights of persons riding upon and propelling or driving bicycles, yet such as have, have unanimously placed them upon an equality and governed by the same rule as persons riding or driving any other vehicle or carriage; and we think this is the proper rule to adopt. Although the use of the bicycle for the purpose of locomotion and travel is quite modern, yet it is a vehicle of great convenience, and its use is becoming quite common. While traveling upon the highways by means of horses has been in vogue much longer, and is more universal at present than by means of bicycles, yet persons traveling by means of horses have no superior rights to those traveling upon the highway by improved methods of travel, which are adopted and consistent with the proper use of the highway.
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"In this case, the acts complained of in each paragraph of the complaint are the riding of the bicycle in the center of the highway at the rate of 15 miles per hour, to and within 25 feet of the faces of the plaintiff's horses. It is these acts which are charged as negligence and as a wrong, but, as we have held, they are not unlawful acts and are not wrong; hence they constitute no cause of action. To make a person liable for the doing of such acts, they must be charged to have been done at a time or in a manner or under circumstances which render him chargeable with a want of proper regard for the rights of others, which is not done in either paragraph of the complaint. ...
"The complaint in this case proceeds, and it can only be held good, on the theory that the plaintiff, riding in her carriage, had rights superior to the defendant, who was riding upon his bicycle, and such is not the law. They met upon the highway, each possessing equal rights to the use of it for riding and driving of their respective vehicles. ..." |
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