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Meyer v. City of Des Moines9/18/1991
tructions are based on Iowa Code section 321.275(4) (1987), which provides:
Persons shall not operate motorcycles or motorized bicycles more than two abreast in a single lane. Except for persons operating such vehicles two abreast, a motor vehicle shall not be operated in a manner depriving a motorcycle or motorized bicycle operator of the full use of a lane. A motorcycle or motorized bicycle shall not be operated between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles. The operator of a motorcycle or motorized bicycle shall not overtake and pass in the same lane occupied by the vehicle being overtaken unless the vehicle being overtaken is a motorcycle or motorized bicycle.
The defendants objected to instruction numbers 8 and 17 in a timely manner. The gist of their objections was simply that section 321.275(4) only applies to vehicles traveling in the same direction. And since the evidence was that the garbage truck and moped were traveling in opposite directions, the instructions should not have been given.
The defendants urged in their posttrial motions as they do here that it was prejudicial error for the court to give these instructions. For reasons that follow we agree.
The key to the defendants' contention is whether the legislature intended the statute to operate in the manner the defendants argue. That intent is not clear so we apply statutory rules of construction to ascertain it. See Iowa Code § 4.6. One of those rules permits us to consider "former statutory provisions, including laws upon same or similar subjects." Id. at 4.6(4).
Iowa Code section 321.275 became law in 1969. 1969 Iowa Acts ch. 204. Then, the statute had twelve subsections. One of those subsections tracked what is now section 321.275(4)--depriving a motorized bicycle operator of the full use of a lane. Those subsections track various sections of the Uniform Vehicle Code (UVC) (rev. ed. 1968), which were incorporated into Traffic Laws Annotated (TLA) (1979). These TLA sections are simply rules governing the operation of motorcycles. And these rules were proposed by the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances in 1968.
The legislature has amended section 321.275 twice since 1969: in 1976 and in 1980. See 1976 Iowa Acts ch. 1165 § 45; 1980 Iowa Acts ch. 1094 § 28. However, the subsection in question--321.275(4)--remained intact.
Section 321.275(4) is substantially identical to section 11-1303 of the TLA. So we consider the language of section 11-1303 and the comments to it as a persuasive authority on legislative intent. Cf., Slager v. HWA Corp., 435 N.W.2d 349, 352 (Iowa 1989) (considering the Uniform Comparative Fault Act and the official comments to it as persuasive authority on legislative intent of Iowa's comparative fault statute which is patterned after the Uniform Act).
Section 11-1303 of the TLA provides:
(a) All motorcycles are entitled to full use of a lane and no motor vehicle shall be driven in such a manner as to deprive any motorcycle of the full use of a lane. This subsection shall not apply to motorcycles operated two abreast in a single lane.
(b) The operator of a motorcycle shall not overtake and pass in the same lane occupied by the vehicle being overtaken.
(c) No person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles.
(d) Motorcycles shall not be operated more than two abreast in a single lane.
(e) Subsections (b) and (c) shall not apply to police officers in the performance of their official duties.
TLA § 11-1303 at 329.
The histori
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