The opinion
JUSTICE STOUDER, specially concurring:
I agree with the result reached by my colleagues, but I doubt the applicability of some of the reasoning employed to support the result.
In particular I do not believe that the “wrong side of the road rule” as discussed and applied in Sughero v. Jewel Tea Co. (1967), 37 Ill. 2d 240 , 226 N.E.2d 28 , can be applied to a rear-end collision. The Sughero case applies the rule as it is generally applied where one vehicle crosses into the lane legitimately occupied by a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. This rule has not been applied, so far as I am aware, to a case such as this, where the collision occurred between vehicles traveling in the same direction in the lane properly used by vehicles traveling in that direction.
However, I am content to agree with the holding that the defendant was negligent as a matter of law, but I believe such a conclusion is appropriate without resort to any burden of proof on his part arising from the application of the “wrong side of the road rule.”