16 Ga. App. 401 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1915
Armstead Bonds was tried under an accusation charging him with a violation of the provisions of sections 5 and 6 of the act of 1910 (Acts 1910, p. 90) regulating the running of “automobiles, locomobiles, and other vehicles and conveyances of like character propelled by steam, gas, gasoline, electricity, or any power other than muscular power, upon the public and private roads of the State of Georgia.” The accusation specifically charged that the accused, on a day named, “with force and arms did then and there operate a motorcycle, same being a conveyance of like character to an automobile, being propelled by gasoline, on a public highway in said county, being the road leading from Bockmart to Antioch in said county, and did then and there approach a sharp curve on said road, where one W. W. Carmichael was there with a team on said road, without then and there having said machine under control, and then and there operating same at a speed greater titan six miles per hour, and did then and there approach upon said highway a team of mules then and there being driven by W. W. Carmichael on said public highway, without then and there giving any of the signals fequired by law, and did then and there fail to give any warning whatever to prevent frightening said team of animals driven as aforesaid.” To this accusation the defendant demurred on several grounds, which amount altogether to a contention that a motorcycle is not a vehicle or conveyance “of like character” to an automobile, and therefore is not subject to the regulations relating to automobiles and conveyances “of like character,” propelled by steam, gas, gasoline, electricity, “or any power
Section 1 of the act of 1910 aforesaid provides that it shall be unlawful for any person or persons, except in accordance with the provisions of that act, “to rim, drive, or operate any automobile, locomobile, or other vehicle or conveyance of like character, propelled by steam, gas, gasoline, electricity, or any power other than muscular power, and which said vehicle shall hereafter be called machines in-this act, upon or along any public road, street, alley, highway, avenue, turnpike, or any private road or way generally used by the public of this State, except and until such person or persons shall comply with the provisions of this act.” Section 5 • provides that “no person shall operate a machine on any of the highways of this State as described in this act at a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and proper, having regard to the traffic and use of such highway, or so as to endanger the life or limb of any person or the safety of any property, and upon approaching a bridge, dam, high embankment, sharp curve, descent or crossing of intersecting highways and railroad crossings, the person operating a machine shall have it under control and operate it at a speed not greater than six miles per hour.” This court held in Carter v. State, 12 Ga. App. 430 (78 S. E. 205), decided February 24, 1913, that so much of the act of 1910 regulating the use of automobiles as undertakes to make penal the operation of an automobile on the highways of this State “at a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and proper, having regard to the traffic and use of such highway, or so as to endanger the life or limb of any person or the safety of any property,” is toó uncertain and indefinite in its terms , to be capable of enforcement. In Empire Life Insurance Co. v. Allen, 141 Ga. 413, 415 (81 S. E. 120), decided February 26,1914, the Supreme Court rendered a decision to the same effect. The provision limiting the rate of speed to six miles per hour under certain circumstances has- been recognized and declared valid as a. penal provision. Section 6 of the act provides, that “upon approaching
Passing from the discussion as to whether a motorcycle is included under the generic term “automobile,” we come to the consideration of the precise point raised by the demurrer: Is a motorcycle a vehicle “of like character” with an automobile, as charged in the accusation? In the first place, regard must be had, as in construing any other act of the legislature, to the intention actuating the lawmakers. While it has been said that “an automobile is not classified with dangerous instrumentalities, such as dynamite, gunpowder, ferocious animals, and the like, so as to make the owner liable for injury occurring from the running of the automobile, on the same basis that an owner of such an instrumentality would be liable for an injury occasioned by it” (Fielder v. Davison, 139 Ga. 509, 77 S. E. 618), it is said, in the same case, that “owing to the nature and construction of the machines and the employment of steam, gasoline, or electricity as a motive power, certain dangers naturally arise from their use and operation, and those who operate them must exercise that degree of care which is commensurate with the dangers naturally incident to such use.” See also O’Dowd v. Newnham, 13 Ga. App. 220-229 (80 S. E. 36). And in Williams v. Raper, 139 Ga. 811-813 (78 S. E. 253), the Supreme Court said: “It is urged that the use of the phrase, ‘it being a dangerous machine,’ was prejudicial and calculated to impress the jury that because of its dangerous quality the defendant was bound to exercise a greater degree of care than the law imposed. We do not think so. The General Assembly, in recognition of the character of the. machine, its power and capabilities of speed, and possible danger to pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles in its operation, have seen fit to enact a statute regulating the speed and manner of operation of automobiles on the public highways. Acts 1910, p. 90. The statement by the court of a reason for the enactment of the law, though not commended, was not so improper as to require a new
It is therefore clear that the intention of the General Assembly, in passing the act of 1910 regulating the use on the public highways of this State of automobiles and other vehicles of like character, was to protect pedestrians and others traveling upon such highways from the dangers incident to the careless use of such self-propelled vehicles; or, in other words, the object of the statute was to protect the public at large from the dangers incident to a. reckless, ignorant, or careless use of'vehicles recognized as dangerous under certain circumstances. The danger to others which arises from the use of an automobile or vehicle of like character depends in part upon the rapid rate of speed at which such vehicles .ordinarily travel, or of which they are at least generally capable,.the noise usually accompanying their operation, which is calculated to frighten horses or other animals traveling along the public highways, and the difficulty with which they may be guided and controlled when running at a high rate of speed, so as to avoid collisions with persons or teams, on the highway. It is a matter, of common knowledge that a motorcycle propelled by gasoline is capable of a rate of speed as high as or higher than may be attained by a four-wheeled automobile; and it is equally well known that a motorcycle is even more noisy and is a more alarming object to country-bred domestic animals than is a larger type of automobile.
We may easily conclude that since the primary purpose, of the legislature was to protect pedestrians and others on the. highways, a motorcycle is a vehicle “of like character” with an automobile, so far as the act of 1910 .is concerned; as the use of a motorcycle
It would be fruitless to multiply words further, as the matter may be summed up in the simple statement that, since (according to repeated rulings of this court) the object of the legislature in passing the act of 1910 was to protect pedestrians and others from automobiles and other vehicles of like character propelled by gasoline, etc., a motorcycle — a vehicle propelled by gasoline, and which, when not regulated in accordance with law, is, according to common knowledge (of which this court must take judicial cognizance), more dangerous to the general public traveling on the highways than ordinary horse-drawn vehicles or others propelled by muscular force — is, in contemplation of law, a vehicle “of like character” with an automobile — a vehicle also propelled by gasoline, also capable of high and dangerous speed, likewise noisy and calculated to frighten teams, and difficult to guide or arrest quickly -when traveling at a too-rapid rate of speed. We therefore hold that the court did not err in overruling the demurrer to the accusation.
Judgment affirmed.