EQUESTRIANS AND PEDESTRIANS.
In England "the law of the road" applies as well to equestrians as
to travellers by carriage, and I can see no good reason why it
should not do so here. The statutes are silent on the subject, and I
cannot find that our Supreme Court has ever had occasion to pass
upon the question; but it has been decided in some of the States
that when a traveller on horseback meets another equestrian or a
carriage, he may exercise his own notions of prudence, and turn
either to the right or to the left at his option.[46] By common
consent and immemorial usage an equestrian is expected to yield the
road, or a good share of it, to a wagon or other vehicle. It has
been decided in Pennsylvania that if he has a chance to turn out and
refuses to do so, and his steed or himself is injured by a
collision, he is remediless.[47]
[46] 24 Wend. 465.
[47] 23 Penn. St. 196.
It is clear that the statute law of the road in this State is not
applicable to people on horseback, as it is expressly limited to
carriages or other vehicles, and therefore equestrians are amenable
only to the common law of the land. By this law they are required to
ride on the public ways with due care and precaution, and to
exercise reasonably good judgment on every occasion, under all the
attendant circumstances. When they meet wagons, whether heavily
loaded or not, they ought to yield as much of the road as they can
conveniently,--certainly more than half, as they do not need that
much of the road to pass conveniently,--but when they meet a vehicle
in the form of a bicycle there seems to be no good reason why they
should yield more than half the road. For the convenience of
themselves and the public at large, on meeting vehicles or each
other, they ought to pass to the right, as by adopting the statute
law of the road in this respect order is promoted and confusion
avoided.
A public thoroughfare is a way for foot-passengers as well as
carriages, and a person has a right to walk on the carriage-way if
he pleases; but, as Chief Justice Denman once remarked, "he had
better not, especially at night, when carriages are passing
along."[48] However, all persons have an undoubted right to walk on
the beaten track of a road, if it has no sidewalk, even if infirm
with age or disease, and are entitled to the exercise of reasonable
care on the part of persons driving vehicles along it. If there is a
sidewalk which is in bad condition, or obstructed by merchandise or
otherwise, then the foot-passenger has a right to walk on the road
if he pleases. But it should be borne in mind that what is proper on
a country road might not be in the crowded streets of a city. In law
every one is bound to regulate his conduct to meet the situations in
which he is placed, and the circumstances around him at the time. A
person infirm with age or disease or afflicted with poor eyesight
should always take extraordinary precaution in walking upon the
road.[49] Thus, a man who traverses a crowded thoroughfare with edged
tools or bars of iron must take especial care that he does not cut
or bruise others with the things he carries. Such a person would be
bound to keep a better lookout than the man who merely carried an
umbrella; and the man who carried an umbrella would be bound to take
more care when walking with it than a person who had nothing.[50]
[48] 5 Carr. & Payne, 407.
[49] 1 Allen, 180.
[50] 1 Addison on Torts, Sec. 480.
Footmen have a right to cross a highway on every proper occasion,
but when convenient they should pass upon cross-walks, and in so
doing should look out for teams; for it is as much their duty, on
crossing a road, to look out for teams, as it is the duty of the
drivers of teams to be vigilant in not running over them. "The law
of the road" as to the meeting of vehicles does not apply to them.
They may walk upon whichever side they please, and turn, upon
meeting teams, either to the right or to the left, at their option,
but it is their duty to yield the road to such an extent as is
necessary and reasonable; and if they walk in the beaten track or
cross it when teams are passing along, they must use extraordinary
care and caution or they will be remediless in case of injury to
themselves. They may travel on the Lord's day for all purposes of
necessity or charity; and they may also take short walks in the
public highway on Sundays, simply for exercise and to take the air,
and even to call to see friends on such walks, without liability to
punishment therefor under the statutes for the observance of the
Lord's day, and they can recover damages for injuries wrongfully
sustained while so walking.[51]
[51] 14 Allen, 475; Barker v. Worcester, 139 Mass. 74.