The Boulevard Rule Revisited

While not always among the more exciting areas of the law, cases involving motor vehicle accidents are a staple of civil litigation in the courts. There is no issue that has produced more litigation, when it comes to car accidents, than the Boulevard Rule governing vehicles entering a highway. Maryland’s highest court this week revisited that rule again in the case of Grady v. Brown.

According to the opinion, Grady was operating a motorcycle on a two way road on which cars were allowed to park on both sides. He had pulled off from a stop sign, and was proceeding down the road when he came upon an alley. He said that a car at the last minute pulled out in front of him, he could not stop, and there was a collision that injured him.

Brown had a different version of what happened. He said he came to the end of the alley, and could not see past a pickup truck that was parked to his right. He then inched forward, and stopped again with the front of his car basically parallel to the side of the parked vehicle, so he could look for oncoming traffic. The motorcycle, which he said was going fast, then slid on the roadway and struck the edge of his front bumper as he was stopped.

The trial court allowed a jury to resolve these competing versions of who was at fault. The jury found that defendant Brown was not negligent, and the plaintiff appealed. The intermediate appellate court agreed that the case was properly allowed to go to the jury, and the Court of Appeals agreed to hear the case. The Court, by a 4-3 vote, again agreed that this case was properly for a jury to decide, despite the Boulevard Rule.

That Rule is designed to expedite the movement of vehicles on the highway. As set forth in the Maryland Transportation Article, it provides that drivers on the through or “favored” highway have the right of way over drivers on the “unfavored” highway, such as alleys that enter a main road, or side streets with a stop or yield sign. The Rule provides that the “unfavored” driver upon approaching the highway must 1)stop, and 2) yield the right of way to approaching traffic on the favored road until it has cleared the intersection.

“Right of way” means the right of a vehicle to proceed in a lawful manner on the highway. Traditionally cases held that the unfavored driver automatically lost as a matter of law. Gradually exceptions were found, holding that cars going the wrong way on a one way street, or at night without headlights, were not proceeding “in a lawful manner” and therefore lost the automatic preference of the Boulevard Rule.

The majority of the Court of Appeals held that the favored driver should not win as a matter of law on these facts. It noted that the Boulevard Rule “must be applied with a modicum of common sense.” The unfavored driver should not have to sit there forever when his vision was blocked, and should be allowed to inch forward. Since there was a factually dispute about whether his car actually protruded into the path of the approaching favored driver, the majority felt the jury should decide. The dissenting opinion noted that since Brady admitted he saw and heard the approaching motorcycle, the rule should have applied to him regardless of how far he inched out.

There will surely be more cases that come down the pike, pun intended, on interpreting the Boulevard Rule.