N.J. Model Civil Jury Charge 5.30J

5.30J DUTY OF CARE PROCEEDING THROUGH

INTERSECTION WITH GREEN LIGHT [The Favored Driver]

(Approved 1977)

Our motor vehicle laws set forth a sta ndard of conduct to be exercised by the

driver of a motor vehicle while a pproaching and proceeding through an

intersection controlled by a traffic control device.

N.J.S.A. 39:4-81 in pertinent part provides:

“The driver of every ve hicle . . . shall obey the

instructions of any official traffic control device placed

in accordance with the traffic act.”

N.J.S.A. 39:4-105 in pertinent part provides:

“A three-color system shall be used; red, amber, and

green. Green means permission for traffic to go,

subject to the safety of othe rs. . . . Red means traffic to

stop before entering the inte rsection or crosswalk and

remain standing until green is shown alone.”

These motor vehicle laws provide th at the driver of a motor vehicle

proceeding on a street with a red light c onfronting him/her is obligated to stop

before entering the intersection and is to remain standing until the light turns green

for that driver.

The driver proceeding into (through) an intersection with a green light does

not have an unqualified right to proceed. He/She is obligated to exercise

reasonable care, which includes making reasonable observations for traffic

traveling on an intersection street. That is not to say that a driver proceeding into

(through) an intersection on a green light has the same duty of making observations

that a driver, for example, with a stop sign confronting him would be obligated to

make. What it does mean is that the driver favored with the green light must make

reasonable observations and depending on the circumstances you may conclude

that that driver acted reasonably if he/she made only cursory observations for

traffic proceeding on an intersecting str eet, whereas in othe r circumstances the

same type of observation would not be considered reasonable.

Failure on the part of the driver favored with the green light to exercise such

care while proceeding through the intersection is evidence to be considered by you

in determining whether that driver was negligent in the operation of his/her motor

vehicle.

NOTE TO JUDGE

Also consider whether the jury should be instructed as follows:

If you find that one of the drivers pro ceeded through a red light, that driver

would be negligent and your consideration should be directed to whether such

negligence was a proximate cause of the accident within the meaning and

definition of that term previously given.

NOTE TO JUDGE

It is also presumed the jury has been previously instructed that the

duty of reasonable care by users of the roadway is mutual and

reciprocal and ordinarily each driver may assume that any other driver

will observe that standard of conduct in the use thereof.