How have courts interpreted the doctrine of contributory negligence in a collision where a car is struck by another vehicle?

The court instructed at some length on the doctrine of contributory negligence. Plaintiff contends that there was no evidence whatever of contributory negligence; hence the court erred in instructing upon the subject. The most recent appellate expression with regard to the giving of instructions on the contributory negligence of an automobile passenger in a situation where the car in which he is riding is struck by another appears in Van Pelt v. Carte (1962) 209 A.C.A. 885, 26 Cal.Rptr. 182. The facts were somewhat similar to those in the instant case. The plaintiff was a passenger in a car driven by her father. Their car came to a stop at the intersection of a subsidiary road and a major highway. Then, turning into the highway, the plaintiff's father stopped the car directly in the path of the defendant's car which [215 Cal.App.2d 125] struck the plaintiff's car, apparently from the rear. The plaintiff had no recollection of looking for traffic at the intersection stop. Appealing from a defense verdict and judgment, the plaintiff contended that it was prejudicial error for the trial court to have given instructions on contributory negligence because there was no evidence of such of her part. The defendant contended that the plaintiff was obligated to call the driver's attention to the imminent danger or to protest at moving forward into the highway. The court said (p. 889, 26 Cal.Rptr. p. 185):

'The rule of law defining a guest's duty to observe traffic is concisely stated in Robinson v. Cable, 55 Cal.2d 425, 427, 11 Cal.Rptr. 377, 378, 359 P.2d 929, 930, as follows: 'In the absence of some fact brought to his attention which would cause a person of ordinary prudence to act otherwise, a person riding in an automobile is not charged with the responsibility of observing the condition of the traffic on the highway, and his mere failure to do so, without more, will not support a finding of contributory negligence.'