Duty of the driver turning left to yield the right of way to the vehicle approaching in the opposite direction at the same time

Facts

On 27 March 1957, around 8:00 PM, Mr. Riederer was driving his motor vehicle on Beckenhofstrasse in Zurich. At the height of Steinhausweg, he turned left to enter a private courtyard. In doing so, he forced a scooter driver traveling up Beckenhofstrasse to brake suddenly and swerve to avoid a collision. The single judge in criminal matters of the District Court of Zurich convicted Mr. Riederer on 7 November 1957 of violating Art. 47 CRO and fined him 25 francs.

Considerations

Art. 47 CRO obliges the driver turning left to strictly respect the right of way of the vehicle approaching in the opposite direction at the same time. The driver turning left must not only, like the overtaking driver according to Art. 46(3) CRO, drive with particular care and take into account the other road users, but he must take all measures to avoid infringing on the priority of the other vehicle. In particular, he has the duty, before turning, to carefully observe the section of road in front of him and to ensure that no vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction whose passage would be compromised by the maneuver.

In the present case, the appellant could see Beckenhofstrasse for a distance of 40 meters. From this, the lower court concluded that he could have seen the scooter driver in time and yielded the right of way to him. The reason why Mr. Riederer cut off the scooter driver therefore lies in the fact that he failed to carefully observe the section of road in front of him. The fact that he also had to pay attention to the entrance of the courtyard to ensure that he did not endanger any users of the adjacent public staircase cannot exonerate him. It is not unusual, but part of the daily realities of road traffic, that a driver must observe several sides in a given traffic situation and take into account other road users approaching from different directions.

The result would not be different if it were accepted that the appellant could not see the scooter driver in time despite the required attention. For according to Art. 47 CRO, it is not enough that the…