Opinion
Argued December 8, 1980
January 22, 1981.
Motor vehicles — Suspension of motor vehicle operator's license — Vehicle Code, 75 Pa. C. S. § 1535 — Points — Restoration following suspension — Speeding.
1. A motor vehicle operator is properly charged with five points against his operator's license when his license is restored following a suspension imposed under the point system or for other violations. [256]
2. Under provisions of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa. C. S. § 1535, a speeding violation of ten to fifteen miles per hour over the maximum speed allowed calls for the assessment of three points. [256]
Argued December 8, 1980, before Judges WILKINSON, JR., CRAIG and PALLADINO, sitting as a panel of three.
Appeal, No. 1337 C.D. 1979, from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County in case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Michael Miernicki, No. 78-7450-10-6.
Suspension of motor vehicle operator's license by Department of Transportation. Licensee appealed to the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County. Appeal sustained. MIMS, J. Commonwealth appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Reversed. Suspension order reinstated as modified.
Harold H. Cramer, Assistant Attorney General, with him Ward T. Williams, Chief Counsel of Transportation, Robert W. Cunliffe, Deputy Attorney General, Harvey Bartle, III, Acting Attorney General, and Edward G. Biester, Jr., Attorney General, for appellant.
No appearance for appellee.
The Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety (department) appeals from the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County which sustained the appeal of Michael Miernicki from the department's 180-day suspension of his operating privileges under Section 1539 of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa. C. S. § 1539.
As in Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety v. Dinkins, 56 Pa. Commw. 182, 424 A.2d 591 (1981), argued before this panel the same day as this case, the trial court here did not have the benefit of our decision in Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety v. Gearhart, 50 Pa. Commw. 474, 413 A.2d 1161 (1980) when it decided this case.
The Gearhart decision has now established that the department acted correctly in raising Miernicki's point total to five upon restoration of his license from a suspension, including a non-point suspension. Hence, when later certifications of conviction brought Miernicki's total to eleven or more points, the resulting additional suspension was proper.
However, we agree with the court below that the department improperly assessed four points against Miernicki based on the speeding offense on September 4, 1977. The citation for that offense indicates that Miernicki was traveling at fifteen miles per hour over the allowed speed. Section 1535 of the Code, 75 Pa. C. S. § 1535, provides that three points shall be assessed for speeding violations of 10-15 miles per hour over the maximum speed allowed. The trial court correctly adjusted Miernicki's total to reflect the proper assessment.
However, even thus adjusted, Miernicki's total accumulation is eleven points, and, two earlier suspensions having been imposed, Section 1539 requires suspension for fifteen days for each point, or a total of 165 days in this case.
The lower court's order will be reversed, and the department's suspension, as modified to 165 days, will be reinstated.
ORDER
AND NOW, January 22, 1981, the June 11, 1979 order of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County, at No. 78-7450-10-6, sustaining the appeal of Michael Miernicki, is reversed, and the suspension imposed by the Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety, as modified from 180 to 165 days, is reinstated.