"Thus the signal, however made, was timely. Should the signal given have reasonably put the respondent upon notice of the boy's intention to make a left turn? Some element of reasonable confusion is eliminated by recalling that respondent knew there was no road to the right down which the boy could have turned and that therefore, if he intended to turn, it would be to the left in which case he would have the right of way."
From the dissenting opinion:
(161 P2d 536, 539): "In order to recover against respondents, it was incumbent upon appellants to show by substantial evidence that respondent driver was negligent, and that that negligence was the proximate cause of the collision in question. ...
[...]
"It must be conceded from the evidence that the boy acknowledged the signal given by respondent and looked back at him. In this case, it becomes necessary to ascertain the duty of the bicycle rider and respondent. In this connection, we must consider three sections of our automobile code because of the situations involved, that of passing a vehicle and that of turning at an intersection. The duties and rules affecting the parties are imposed by Rem.Rev.Stat., Vol. 7A, subsec. 6360-77, 6360-84 and 6360-85.
"Sec. 6360-77: '... Any person driving a vehicle upon any public highway and being overtaken by any vehicle proceeding in the same direction shall keep to the extreme right-hand side of such public highway ...'
"Sec. 6360-84: '... Any person driving any vehicle upon any public highway of this state and desiring to make a left-hand turn at any intersection shall seasonably and prudently drive such vehicle to the extreme left-hand side of that portion of the roadway lying to the right of the center of such public highway a reasonable distance before making such left-hand turn. It shall be unlawful for any person to make or attempt to make any right-hand or left-hand turn until he shall have attained the proper relative driving position as aforesaid.'
"Sec. 6360-85: '... If [a left turning driver] intends to turn to the left he shall extend his arm in a horizontal position from the left side of such vehicle continuously for a reasonable length of time; ... For the purpose of this section, a reasonable length of time shall be that time required to traverse a distance in feet equal to five times the maximum speed in miles per hour allowed by law during the approach to the point of turning or stopping.'
"It will be noted that the first section above cited required the driver of the automobile to drive clear of the overtaken vehicle. That is just what Barber attempted to do. He even drove over onto his left side of the center of the road in order to keep clear of the bicycle and its rider. Under that section of the statute, it was the duty of the bicycle rider to keep to the extreme right-had side of the highway until respondent had passed. The boy did not obey that injunction of the statute. He did not keep to his right side of the road, but moved over the left-hand side of his portion of the highway, and, in so doing, was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. It was so alleged in defendants' answer.
"The majority announces the rule that a signal to make a left-hand turn gives the maker of it the right-of-way. Does it? A study of the statute does not indicate that that is the rule, and none of our opinions so holds.
"The provisions of the two statutes last quoted do not give the right of way to the operator of a vehicle about to turn left at an intersection. In any event, this could not be true until a strict compliance of the statute was observed by the person who desired to turn. A reading of the sections indicates the truth of this statement.
"The case of Peterson v. Mayham, supra, had under consideration an accident which occurred at an intersection in which a driver of an automobile attempted to turn to his left and was run into by a following car. ...
[...]
"The rule announced by the majority repeals the statute just quoted in the Peterson case. The rule will necessarily change our method of driving in this state, especially in the crowded city streets. From this time on, he who is on the extreme right of a street may stop all traffic on his left by giving a signal indicating a left turn.
[Please click here to read the conclusion to the dissenting opinion on Sakshaug v. Barber.]
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