H.B. No. 478
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the speed limit in an alley.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 13, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
    1-5  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
    1-6  by adding Subsection (n) to read as follows:
    1-7        (n)  "Alley" means a street that:
    1-8              (1)  is not used primarily for through traffic; and
    1-9              (2)  gives access to rear entrances of buildings or
   1-10  lots along the street.
   1-11        SECTION 2.  Section 166(a), Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
   1-12  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
   1-13  to read as follows:
   1-14        (a)  No person shall drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed
   1-15  greater than is reasonable and prudent under the circumstances then
   1-16  existing.  Except when a special hazard exists that requires lower
   1-17  speeds for compliance with paragraph (b) of this Section, the
   1-18  limits specified in this Section or established as hereinafter
   1-19  authorized shall be lawful, but any speed in excess of the limits
   1-20  specified in this Section or established as hereinafter authorized
   1-21  shall be prima facie evidence that the speed is not reasonable or
   1-22  prudent and that it is unlawful:
   1-23              1.  Thirty (30) miles per hour in any urban district,
   1-24  except as provided by Subdivision 1A of this paragraph;
    2-1              1A.  Fifteen (15) miles per hour on an alley;
    2-2              2.  Seventy (70) miles per hour during the daytime and
    2-3  sixty-five (65) miles per hour during the nighttime for any
    2-4  passenger car, motorcycle, or motor-driven cycle on any State or
    2-5  Federal numbered highway outside any urban district, including
    2-6  farm- and/or ranch-to-market roads, and sixty (60) miles per hour
    2-7  during the daytime and fifty-five (55) miles per hour during the
    2-8  nighttime for any passenger car, motorcycle, or motor-driven cycle
    2-9  on all other highways outside any urban district;
   2-10              3.  Sixty (60) miles per hour for all other vehicles on
   2-11  any highway outside any urban district;
   2-12              4.  The speed limits for any bus or other vehicle
   2-13  engaged in this State in the business of transporting passengers
   2-14  for compensation or hire, for any commercial vehicle which is in
   2-15  authorized use as a "Highway Post Office" vehicle furnishing
   2-16  Highway Post Office service in the transportation of the United
   2-17  States mail, and for any light truck, as described in Subdivision 5
   2-18  of this subsection, shall be the same as prescribed for passenger
   2-19  cars at the same location.
   2-20              5.  The above limitations notwithstanding, the
   2-21  following prima facie maximum limits are declared, for any highway
   2-22  outside any urban district;
   2-23                    a.  Forty-five (45) miles per hour for any
   2-24  vehicle towing any house trailer of actual or registered gross
   2-25  weight exceeding four thousand, five hundred (4,500) pounds or with
   2-26  an over-all length exceeding thirty-two (32) feet, excluding the
   2-27  tow bar.
    3-1                    b.  Sixty (60) miles per hour in daytime and
    3-2  fifty-five (55) miles per hour during nighttime for any truck,
    3-3  except light trucks as described in this Subdivision 5, truck
    3-4  tractor, trailer or semitrailer, or for any vehicle towing any
    3-5  trailer, semitrailer, another motor vehicle, or any house trailer
    3-6  of actual or registered gross weight, less than four thousand, five
    3-7  hundred (4,500) pounds and over-all length of thirty-two (32) feet
    3-8  or less, excluding the tow bar.
    3-9                    c.  Fifty (50) miles per hour for any school bus.
   3-10        "Daytime" means from one-half (1/2) hour before sunrise to
   3-11  one-half (1/2) hour after sunset, and "nighttime" means at any
   3-12  other hour.
   3-13        "Urban District" means the territory contiguous to and
   3-14  including any highway or street which is built up with structures
   3-15  devoted to business, industry or dwelling houses, situated at
   3-16  intervals of less than one hundred (100) feet for a distance of
   3-17  one-quarter (1/4) of a mile or more on either side.
   3-18        "Passenger car" means every motor vehicle, except motorcycles
   3-19  and motor-driven cycles, designed for carrying ten (10) passengers
   3-20  or less and used for the transportation of persons.
   3-21        "Light truck" means any truck, as defined in this Act, with a
   3-22  manufacturer's rated carrying capacity not to exceed two thousand
   3-23  (2,000) pounds and is intended to include those trucks commonly
   3-24  known as pick-up trucks, panel delivery trucks and carry-all
   3-25  trucks.
   3-26        The maximum speed limits set forth in this Section may be
   3-27  altered as authorized in Sections 167, 168 and 169.
    4-1        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    4-2        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    4-3  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    4-4  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
    4-5  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    4-6  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.