WPI 12.01.01 Driver's Intoxication—Plaintiff Passenger's Knowledge

This instruction may be used whenever an issue is properly before the jury concerning the passenger's knowledge that the driver of the vehicle was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

RCW 5.40.060.

For a discussion of how this statute applies to an intoxicated plaintiff passenger, see the Comment to WPI 16.03 (Intoxication of Person Injured or Killed—Defense). See also WPI 12.01 (Voluntary Intoxication).

The fact that the driver has consumed alcohol does not automatically justify instructing the jury on the issue of the driver being under the influence of alcohol or on the passenger's knowledge thereof. See the Comment to WPI 12.01 (Voluntary Intoxication), for cases discussing the sufficiency of evidence to take the issue of driver's intoxication to the jury.

A passenger's knowledge before entering the car that the driver had been drinking alcohol does not necessarily charge the passenger as a matter of law with knowledge that the driver is under the influence of alcohol. Whether the driver was under the influence of alcohol and whether the passenger knew or should have known of the driver's intoxication are still questions for the jury. Miller v. Treat, 57 Wn.2d 524, 530, 358 P.2d 143 (1960); Traverso v. Pupo, 51 Wn.2d 149, 152–53, 316 P.2d 462 (1957); Wold v. Gardner, 167 Wash. 191, 194–96, 8 P.2d 975 (1932); Wold v. Gardner, 159 Wash. 665, 670–73, 294 P. 574 (1930). The duties of a passenger who obtains knowledge of the driver's condition after the journey has commenced are spelled out in Lambert v. Smith, 54 Wn.2d 348, 340 P.2d 774 (1959). See also Osborn v. Chapman, 62 Wn.2d 495, 497, 384 P.2d 117(1963), overruled on other grounds, Sorensen v. Estate of McDonald, 78 Wn.2d 103, 110, 470P.2d 206 (1970).