Cite as 2016 Ark. 157
be strictly a penal statute, making the failure of front-seat occupants of a motor vehicle to wear a seat belt a traffic violation. See Ark. Code Ann. § 27-37-706. Section 27-37-706 states,
(a) Any person who violates this subchapter shall be subject to a fine not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00).
(b) When a person is convicted, pleads guilty, pleads nolo contendere, or forfeits bond for violation of this subchapter, court costs under § 16-10-305 shall be assessed, but other costs or fees shall not be assessed.
Further, the original version of section 27-37-703, as it appeared in section 5 of Act 562, was the expression of the legislature's intent to not concomitantly create a civil cause of action for failure to wear a seatbelt:
SECTION 5. The failure to provide or use a seat belt shall not be considered under any circumstances as evidence of comparative or contributory negligence, nor shall such failure be admissible as evidence in the trial of any civil action with regard to negligence. Neither shall the failure to provide or use seat belts be considered under any circumstances as evidence in any prosecution for negligent homicide.
As such, this section is substantive law because it "defines and regulates the rights, duties, and powers of parties," relative to the newly created requirement to use seat belts. See Rockwell Automation, 2009 Ark. 241, at 8, 308 S.W.3d at 141. While the original version of this statute was amended by Act 1118 of 1995 so as to not foreclose the use of evidence of seat belt nonuse in products-liability cases, the legislature's intent to keep the Arkansas Mandatory Seat Belt Use Law from creating a civil cause of action, or having pecuniary consequences for an injured person pursing a civil cause of action, has remained.
When the Rockwell court struck down the nonparty-fault provision of the Civil Justice
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