Opinion
November 13, 1968.
December 12, 1968.
Motor Vehicles — Licenses — Suspension — Unlawful speed — Economic hardship to operator — Circumstances — Point system — Speeding violation in zone where Secretary of Highways has established 50 mile speed limit — The Vehicle Code.
1. Lucchetti Motor Vehicle Operator License Case, 213 Pa. Super. 397, Held controlling.
2. In this case, in which it appeared that the operator was apprehended for speeding at the rate of 76 miles per hour in a 50 mile-per-hour speed zone, and paid a fine to a justice of the peace; that, after hearing, the operator's privileges were suspended by the Secretary of Revenue; that the operator had no record of prior violations; and that the operator testified that there was no danger of life or property as a result of his operation of the car, and that he depended upon the use of his operating privileges to pursue his occupation; it was Held that the order of the court below restoring the operator's privileges should be reversed, and the order of the secretary reinstated.
3. The point system established by the amendment of January 24, 1966, P.L. (1965) 1497, to The Vehicle Code is not applicable to a speeding violation which takes place in a zone where the Secretary of Highways has established a 50 mile speed limit under the provisions of § 1002(b)(8) of The Vehicle Code.
Argued November 13, 1968.
Before WRIGHT, P.J., WATKINS, MONTGOMERY, JACOBS, HOFFMAN, SPAULDING, and HANNUM, JJ.
Appeal, No. 211, April T., 1968, from order of Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County, Oct. T., 1967, No. 615, in case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. James Harry Kerr. Order reversed.
Appeal by licensee from decision of Secretary of Revenue suspending motor vehicle operating privileges. Before WEISS, P.J.
Order entered sustaining appeal and directing that operating privileges be restored. Commonwealth appealed.
Elmer T. Bolla, Deputy Attorney General, with him William C. Sennett, Attorney General, for Commonwealth, appellant.
No argument was made nor brief submitted for appellee.
This appeal is ruled by our opinion filed this day in Lucchetti Motor Vehicle Operator License Case, 213 Pa. Super. 397, 249 A.2d 783. The factual situation and reasoning of the hearing judge appear in the following excerpt from the opinion below:
"On April 1, 1967, appellant was apprehended for speeding at the rate of 76 miles per hour in a 50 mile per hour speed zone, by Troopers of the Pennsylvania State Police, along Route 30 in Unity Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The speed had been timed by a properly tested speedometer and for a distance of one-quarter of a mile. An Information was filed before Justice of the Peace, Anthony Mosso, and a fine and costs were paid. Appellant has no prior record of operating violations.
"The appellant testified on his own behalf. He is married and has three children, all of whom are under five years of age. He is employed as a collection agent for Brookline Savings and Trust Company and he testified that he is the sole support of himself, his wife, and his children, and that he depends upon the use of his operating privileges to pursue his occupation. He testified that he operates a motor vehicle in excess of 50,000 miles per year. In reference to the violation in question, he testified that there was no danger to life, limb or property as a result of his operation of his motor vehicle.
"It is the opinion of this Court that this is a case of speed and speed alone, without any attendant or aggravating circumstances. In light of appellant's past operating record and under all of the other circumstances here present, this Court is of the opinion that appellant's operating privileges should be restored. Commonwealth v. Wagner, 364 Pa. 566 (1950)".
Although appellee's speeding violation occurred after the effective date (July 24, 1966) of the amendment to The Vehicle Code establishing the point system, it took place in a zone where the Secretary of Highways had established a 50 mile speed limit under the provisions of Section 1002(b)(8) of The Vehicle Code (75 P.S. 1002(b)(8)), to which the point system does not apply. The instant suspension by the Secretary of Revenue was properly imposed under the provisions of Section 618(b)(2) (75 P.S. 618(b)(2)).
The order of the court below is reversed, and the order of the Secretary of Revenue is reinstated.