Opinion
Opinion filed January 13, 1934.
AUTOMOBILES.
Ordinance requiring all except police and fire department vehicles to stop at street intersections where red light is showing held applicable to ambulance driven in response to emergency call, it being immaterial that street on which ambulance was driven was designated as part of state highway system.
FROM SHELBY.Appeal from Circuit Court of Shelby County. — HON. A.B. PITTMAN, Judge.
LAKE HAYS, of Memphis, for appellant.
WALTER CHANDLER and JULIUS ALPERIN, both of Memphis, for appellee.
The city of Memphis has an ordinance requiring all vehicles, except those of its police and fire department, to stop at street intersections, when a traffic-control device displays a red light at such intersection.
Thompson's automobile ambulance, answering an emergency call, was driven across a street intersection, while the red light was displayed, in violation of said ordinance. The circuit court affirmed the city court in its assessment of the penalty prescribed by the ordinance for such violation.
On appeal to this court, Thompson insists that the ordinance does not apply to an ambulance, particularly when it is being driven in response to an emergency call.
We find no support for this contention. The ordinance does not except ambulances from its application, and the courts may not read such exception into it. National Funeral Home v. Dalehite, 15 Tenn. App. 482, 491-494.
It is altogether immaterial that the ambulance was being driven on a street designated as a part of the state highway system. Such designation does not destroy or limit the city's right to regulate traffic on such a street. Collier v. Baker, 160 Tenn. 571, 27 S.W.2d 1085.
The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.