74R6770 DWS-D
          By Rabuck                                              H.B. No. 321
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to a speed limit for school buses.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 166(a), Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
    1-5  Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
    1-6  to read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  No person shall drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed
    1-8  greater than is reasonable and prudent under the circumstances then
    1-9  existing.   Except when a special hazard exists that requires lower
   1-10  speeds for compliance with paragraph (b) of this Section, the
   1-11  limits specified in this Section or established as hereinafter
   1-12  authorized shall be lawful, but any speed in excess of the limits
   1-13  specified in this Section or established as hereinafter authorized
   1-14  shall be prima facie evidence that the speed is not reasonable or
   1-15  prudent and that it is unlawful:
   1-16              1.  Thirty (30) miles per hour in any urban district,
   1-17  except as provided by Subdivision 1A of this paragraph;
   1-18              1A.  Fifteen (15) miles per hour on an alley;
   1-19              2.  Seventy (70) miles per hour during the daytime and
   1-20  sixty-five (65) miles per hour during the nighttime for any
   1-21  passenger car, motorcycle, or motor-driven cycle on any State or
   1-22  Federal numbered highway outside any urban district, including
   1-23  farm- and/or ranch-to-market roads, and sixty (60) miles per hour
   1-24  during the daytime and fifty-five (55) miles per hour during the
    2-1  nighttime for any passenger car, motorcycle, or motor-driven cycle
    2-2  on all other highways outside any urban district;
    2-3              3.  Sixty (60) miles per hour for all other vehicles on
    2-4  any highway outside any urban district;
    2-5              4.  The speed limits for any bus or other vehicle
    2-6  engaged in this State in the business of transporting passengers
    2-7  for compensation or hire, for any commercial vehicle which is in
    2-8  authorized use as a "Highway Post Office" vehicle furnishing
    2-9  Highway Post Office service in the transportation of the United
   2-10  States mail, and for any light truck, as described in Subdivision 5
   2-11  of this subsection, shall be the same as prescribed for passenger
   2-12  cars at the same location.
   2-13              5.  The above limitations notwithstanding, the
   2-14  following prima facie maximum limits are declared, for any highway
   2-15  outside any urban district;
   2-16                    a.  Forty-five (45) miles per hour for any
   2-17  vehicle towing any house trailer of actual or registered gross
   2-18  weight exceeding four thousand, five hundred (4,500) pounds or with
   2-19  an over-all length exceeding thirty-two (32) feet, excluding the
   2-20  tow bar.
   2-21                    b.  Sixty (60) miles per hour in daytime and
   2-22  fifty-five (55) miles per hour during nighttime for any truck,
   2-23  except light trucks as described in this Subdivision 5, truck
   2-24  tractor, trailer or semitrailer, or for any vehicle towing any
   2-25  trailer, semitrailer, another motor vehicle, or any house trailer
   2-26  of actual or registered gross weight, less than four thousand, five
   2-27  hundred (4,500) pounds and over-all length of thirty-two (32) feet
    3-1  or less, excluding the tow bar.
    3-2                    c.  Fifty-five (55) <Fifty (50)> miles per hour
    3-3  for any school bus on an interstate highway, as defined by Section
    3-4  144 of this Act, and fifty (50) miles per hour for any school bus
    3-5  on another highway.
    3-6        "Daytime" means from one-half (1/2) hour before sunrise to
    3-7  one-half (1/2) hour after sunset, and "nighttime" means at any
    3-8  other hour.
    3-9        "Urban District" means the territory contiguous to and
   3-10  including any highway or street which is built up with structures
   3-11  devoted to business, industry or dwelling houses, situated at
   3-12  intervals of less than one hundred (100) feet for a distance of
   3-13  one-quarter (1/4) of a mile or more on either side.
   3-14        "Passenger car" means every motor vehicle, except motorcycles
   3-15  and motor-driven cycles, designed for carrying ten (10) passengers
   3-16  or less and used for the transportation of persons.
   3-17        "Light truck" means any truck, as defined in this Act, with a
   3-18  manufacturer's rated carrying capacity not to exceed two thousand
   3-19  (2,000) pounds and is intended to include those trucks commonly
   3-20  known as pick-up trucks, panel delivery trucks and carry-all
   3-21  trucks.
   3-22        The maximum speed limits set forth in this Section may be
   3-23  altered as authorized in Sections 167, 168 and 169.
   3-24        SECTION 2.  (a)  The changes in law made by this Act apply
   3-25  only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
   3-26  Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed before
   3-27  the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
    4-1  occurred before that date.
    4-2        (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
    4-3  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
    4-4  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
    4-5        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    4-6        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    4-7  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    4-8  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    4-9  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   4-10  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.