Case Title: Penney v. City of North Little Rock

Citation: 455 S.W.2d 132

Docket Number: 

State: arkansas

Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Date: 1970-06-22T00:00:00Z

Document:
455 S.W.2d 132 (1970) James A. PENNEY, Appellant, v. CITY OF NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Appellee. No. 5507. Supreme Court of Arkansas. June 22, 1970. Harold L. Hall, Little Rock, for appellant. John T. Harmon, No. Little Rock, for appellee. JONES, Justice. James A. Penney was convicted in the North Little Rock Municipal Court and fined $25 for failure to wear protective headgear while operating a motorcycle in violation of § 3 of Act 201 of 1959, as amended by Act 296 of 1967 (Ark.Stat.Ann. § 75-1703 [Supp.1969]). On appeal to the Pulaski County Circuit Court, Penney was again convicted and on appeal to this court he relies on the following point for reversal: Act 296, approved March 10, 1967 (§ 75-1703, supra) provides, in part, as follows: We take judicial notice of Motor Vehicle Division regulation No. 1967-3 promulgated under authority of Act 296 of 1967, supra, *133 which sets forth standards for the equipment required under the Act. The sole question presented on this appeal is whether the Act under which Penney was convicted is constitutional, and we hold that it is. The appellant contends that the Act involved is unconstitutional "in that it is beyond the police power of the legislature. The Act was passed for the protection of the rider himself and not the general public." The appellant insists that the Act is unconstitutional and urges us in so holding, to adopt the views of the Michigan, Ohio, New York and Louisiana courts as announced in the following cases: By Michigan in American Motorcycle Association v. Davids, 11 Mich.App. 351, 158 N.W.2d 72; by Ohio in State v. Betts, Ohio Mun. Ct., 252 N.E.2d 866; by New York in People v. Carmichael, 53 Misc.2d 584, 279 N.Y.S.2d 272, and by the Court of Appeals of Louisiana as announced in Everhardt v. City of New Orleans, 208 So. 2d 423. We are of the opinion that the better reasoning favors the courts who have held similar statutes constitutional and we feel more comfortable aligned with the final decision of the New York court in People v. Carmichael, as announced in 56 Misc.2d 388, 288 N.Y.S.2d 931, and the final Louisiana Supreme Court decision in Everhardt v. City of New Orleans, as announced in 253 La. 285, 217 So. 2d 400. In reversing the Special Sessions Court in Carmichael, the Genesee County Court in 288 N.Y.S.2d 931, said: The Supreme Court of Louisiana in the final disposition of the Everhardt case, reversed the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and held that the Louisiana statute was constitutional. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Everhardt, as reported in 208 So. 2d 423, found the Carmichael decision as announced by the Special Sessions Court for the Town of Oakfield in New York, persuasive and proceeded to follow it. It is interesting to note that by the time Everhardt was finally decided and reversed by the Supreme Court of Louisiana, the New York Special Sessions Court in People v. Carmichael had also been reversed and the New York statute held to be constitutional. In the Texas case of Ex Parte Smith, Tex.Cr.App., 441 S.W.2d 544, the constitutionality of a similar statute was involved and the defendant-appellee also relied on the earlier New York and Louisiana decisions in Carmichael and Everhardt, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals aligned itself with the later and final decisions in Carmichael and Everhardt, as well as with the decisions from a number of other states in holding similar statutes constitutional. The protective headgear statutes appear very similar in all the states where they have been adopted, and in a majority of such states, where the constitutionality of the Act has been questioned, the courts have held the Acts are constitutional. Kentucky seems to be the most recent state to join the majority in holding a similar statute constitutional. In the case of Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Coffman, Ky., 453 S.W.2d 759, rendered on May 1, 1970, it is pointed out that the Kentucky statute requires that all persons operating or riding motorcycles are required to wear protective helmets of the type approved by the commissioner of public safety. In aligning Kentucky with the majority view, the Supreme Court of Kentucky said: We join, the decisions of what appears to be by far the great majority of the courts of the other states, in holding that § 3 of Act 201 of 1959, as amended by Act 296 of 1967, is a proper exercise of the police powers of the state of Arkansas and is constitutional. In doing so we are unable to find better expressed reasons than has been given in the various cases, supra, but we consider the reasoning, as expressed by the New Jersey court in State v. Mele, 103 N.J.Super. 353, 247 A.2d 176, to be very much in keeping with our own view in the case at bar. In that case the New Jersey court said: We also approve the language used by the Supreme Court of North Carolina in the case of State v. Anderson, 3 N.C.App. 124, 164 S.E.2d 48, where, in holding constitutional a statute almost identical with our own, the North Carolina Court said: We, therefore, hold that since the statute in question bears a reasonable, real and substantial *135 relation to the public health, safety and welfare, it is constitutional as a valid exercise of the police power of the state of Arkansas. Therefore, since the facts are not in dispute, the judgment of the circuit court must be affirmed. Affirmed.