Court Opinion

ID: 9514896
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:52:24.175326+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:22.421229
License: Public Domain

GILBERTSON, Justice
(dissenting).
[¶ 16.] I respectfully dissent. SDCL 32-22-55 and SDCL 32-22-56, when construed together, double the ordinary statutory penalty for various types of an overweight vehicle. As such I would reverse the circuit court.
[¶ 17.] This is a case of statutory construction. Statutory intent must be construed from the statute as a whole as well as other statutes relating to the same subject. US West Communications v. PUC, 505 N.W.2d 115, 123 (S.D.1993). In reviewing SDCL chapter 32-22, it is clear that the intent of the Legislature is to reduce damage to the highways of South Dakota. “The evil sought to be avoided [is] the destruction of the public roads by excessively heavy vehicles.” State v. Boze, 472 S.W.2d 35, 38 (1971). Indeed, “[i]t is beyond question that the destructive potential of the [excess] weight is determined not only by its [total] amount but the degree to which that amount is concentrated in one spot or area.” Id.
[¶ 18.] I agree with the Court that under State v. Feiok, 364 N.W.2d 536, 539 (S.D.1985), previous laws in this jurisdiction are an appropriate basis upon which to gain assistance in determining legislative intent. In 1953, the Legislature enacted what the Court correctly determines to be the predecessor of SDCL 32-22-55 and 32-22-56. 1953 SD Sess.L. ch. 247 states:
Any person who is convicted of the offense of operating a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state with weight upon any wheel, axle or groups of axles or upon more than one thereof greater than the maximum permitted by section 44.0336 of the South Dakota Code of 1939 and acts amendato-ry thereof shall be fined in addition to and not in substitution for any and all penalties now provided by law for such offense in the following amounts:
In an amount equal to three cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight over one thousand pounds when such excess is two thousand pounds or less.
In an amount equal to five cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight when such excess exceeds two thousand pounds and is three thousand pounds or less.
In an amount equal to six cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight when such excess exceeds three thousand pounds and is four thousand pounds or less.
In an amount equal to eight cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight when such excess exceeds four thousand pounds and is five thousand pounds or less.
In an amount equal to ten cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight when such excess is five thousand pounds or more.
In any case where the motor vehicle is absolutely overweight beyond the greatest permissible compensation plate weights for a vehicle of its class, the pounds by which the vehicle is so overweight may be assessed at double the penalties hereinbefore prescribed, (emphasis added).
In construing this act as a whole it is clear that a vehicle is “absolutely overweight” whether the source of that weight is a “wheel, axle or groups of axles” or total *91weight. The act makes no differentiation between the sources.
[¶ 19.] This statute remained intact until the adoption of the South Dakota Compiled Laws in 1967. At that point, the statute was split into two statutes which became SDCL 32-22-557 and 56.8 However, there were no amendments to the substance of the law. Further, the 1967 Code declared that: “[t]he provisions of this code, so far as they are the same as those of existing laws, shall be construed as a continuation of those laws and not as new enactments.” SDCL 2-16-14. Although there were additional amendments in 1999, the pertinent language of the 1953 act, which is determinative of this appeal, survives and is still controlling.9
[¶ 20.] Thus, the phrase “absolutely overweight” is not limited to the total weight of the entire vehicle. Under SDCL 32-22 the term is inclusive of four ways an overweight violation can result. These statutes must be construed with a view to effect the *92object and underlying purpose of the Legislature. SDCL 2-14-12. See also Estate of Wolff, 349 N.W.2d 33, 35 (S.D.1984). The phrase “absolutely overweight” simply reinforces the legislative intent that the vehicle must be substantially overweight before the doubling of the penalty is instituted. For the doubling under SDCL 32-22-56 to apply, the violation must be in excess of 10,000 pounds over the applicable legal weight limit. This simply means that if the vehicle is carrying a weight beyond 10,000 pounds in excess of the legal limit of SDCL 32-22-16 on (1) a wheel, (2) axle, (3) group of axles, or (4) gross weight of the vehicle, the double penalty is applied to the schedule of SDCL 32-22-55. This law has now been in effect 48 years. If the Legislature felt the penalty doubling provision should be limited to gross weight of the entire vehicle, it would have simply amended the statutes to say so. It has not so done.
[¶ 21.] The case of Alexander v. State, 228 Ga. 179, 184 S.E.2d 450 (1971) is instructive. Therein the defendant argued that the penalty provision of the law for overweight vehicles referred only to the total weight of the vehicle and not the axle weight. The Court rejected this argument, declaring that its statutory construction was consistent with the clear intent of the Legislature to maintain and protect the highways of that state from unnecessary wear, not only due to the total weight of the vehicle, but also the results of the same excessive weights on individual axles. Id. at 452.
[¶ 22.] The State also calls our attention to Steven Karamihas & Thomas Gillespie, Trucks and Pavement Wear, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute Research Review, 8-9 (May June, 1994). This study reports that:
The individual axle loads of a truck have a greater influence on fatigue of pavements than any other vehicle factor.... This is because fatigue is exponentially related to pavement response (stress and strain) and hence, axle load.... [S]preading the load over several axles and keeping individual axle loads low can significantly reduce pavement fatigue.
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[G]ross vehicle weight is not directly linked with fatigue of pavements. Fatigue varies in accordance with the axle loads and number of axles on each vehicle combination, and is only related to vehicle weight if a higher gross weight causes an increase in individual axle loads.
It is difficult to accept a rationale that for the last 48 years, the Legislature has been willing to protect the untold millions of dollars spent on highway construction and repair in this state by authorizing double penalties for total overweight vehicles, but casting that aside and giving a “50% discount” to those perpetrators who would destroy or damage our roads by illegal amounts of weight per “wheel, axle or groups of axles.”
[¶ 23.] For the above reasons I respectfully dissent.
[¶ 24.] MILLER, Chief Justice, joins this dissent.

. From 1967 to 1999, SDCL 32-22-55 stated:
Any person who is convicted of the offense of operating a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state with weight upon any wheel, axle or groups of axles or upon more than one thereof greater than the maximum permitted by §§ 32-22-2 to 32-22-33, inclusive, 32-22-47 and 32-22-48 shall be fined in addition to, and not in substitution for, any other penalties now provided by law for such offense in the following amounts:
In an amount equal to five cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight over one thousand pounds if such excess is three thousand pounds or less.
In an amount equal to ten cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight if such excess exceeds three thousand pounds and is four thousand pounds or less.
In an amount equal to fifteen cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight if such excess exceeds four thousand pounds and is five thousand pounds or less.
In an amount of twenty-five cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight if such excess is more than five thousand pounds.
The fine schedule in this section is assessed at a single rate according to the cents per pound penalty for the highest weight violation. (emphasis added).

. From 1967 to 1999, SDCL 32-22-56 stated:
In any case where the motor vehicle is absolutely overweight beyond the greatest permissible compensation plate weights for a vehicle of its class, the pounds by which the vehicle is so overweight may be assessed at double the penalties prescribed in § 32-22-55. (emphasis added).

.As of July 1, 1999, SDCL 32-22-55 reads:
Any person who is convicted of the offense of operating a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state with weight upon any wheel, axle, or groups of axles or upon more than one thereof greater than the maximum permitted by §§ 32-22-2 to 32-22-33 inclusive, 32-22-47 and 32-22-48 shall be fined in addition to, and not in substitution for, any other penalties now provided by law for such offense in the following amounts:
In an amount equal to five cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight over one thousand pounds if such excess is three thousand pounds or less.
In an amount equal to fifteen cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight if such excess exceeds three thousand pounds and is four thousand pounds or less.
In an amount equal to twenty-two and one-half cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight if such excess exceeds four thousand pounds and is five thousand pounds or less.
In an amount equal to thirty-seven and one-half cents per pound for each pound of such excess or combined excess weight if such excess is more than five thousand pounds.
The fine schedule in this section is assessed at a single rate according to the cents per pound penalty for the highest weight violation
After July 1, 1999, SDCL 32-22-56 now states:
In any case where the motor vehicle is absolutely overweight beyond ten thousand pounds, the pounds by which the vehicle is so overweight shall be assessed at double the penalties prescribed in § 32-22-55.