1-1 By: Rabuck (Senate Sponsor - Nixon) H.B. No. 321
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 1, 1995;
1-3 May 2, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on State
1-4 Affairs; May 8, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 8, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to a speed limit for school buses.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Section 166(a), Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on
1-11 Highways (Article 6701d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
1-12 to read as follows:
1-13 (a) No person shall drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed
1-14 greater than is reasonable and prudent under the circumstances then
1-15 existing. Except when a special hazard exists that requires lower
1-16 speeds for compliance with paragraph (b) of this Section, the
1-17 limits specified in this Section or established as hereinafter
1-18 authorized shall be lawful, but any speed in excess of the limits
1-19 specified in this Section or established as hereinafter authorized
1-20 shall be prima facie evidence that the speed is not reasonable or
1-21 prudent and that it is unlawful:
1-22 1. Thirty (30) miles per hour in any urban district,
1-23 except as provided by Subdivision 1A of this paragraph;
1-24 1A. Fifteen (15) miles per hour on an alley;
1-25 2. Seventy (70) miles per hour during the daytime and
1-26 sixty-five (65) miles per hour during the nighttime for any
1-27 passenger car, motorcycle, or motor-driven cycle on any State or
1-28 Federal numbered highway outside any urban district, including
1-29 farm- and/or ranch-to-market roads, and sixty (60) miles per hour
1-30 during the daytime and fifty-five (55) miles per hour during the
1-31 nighttime for any passenger car, motorcycle, or motor-driven cycle
1-32 on all other highways outside any urban district;
1-33 3. Sixty (60) miles per hour for all other vehicles on
1-34 any highway outside any urban district;
1-35 4. The speed limits for any bus or other vehicle
1-36 engaged in this State in the business of transporting passengers
1-37 for compensation or hire, for any commercial vehicle which is in
1-38 authorized use as a "Highway Post Office" vehicle furnishing
1-39 Highway Post Office service in the transportation of the United
1-40 States mail, and for any light truck, as described in Subdivision 5
1-41 of this subsection, shall be the same as prescribed for passenger
1-42 cars at the same location.
1-43 5. The above limitations notwithstanding, the
1-44 following prima facie maximum limits are declared, for any highway
1-45 outside any urban district;
1-46 a. Forty-five (45) miles per hour for any
1-47 vehicle towing any house trailer of actual or registered gross
1-48 weight exceeding four thousand, five hundred (4,500) pounds or with
1-49 an over-all length exceeding thirty-two (32) feet, excluding the
1-50 tow bar.
1-51 b. Sixty (60) miles per hour in daytime and
1-52 fifty-five (55) miles per hour during nighttime for any truck,
1-53 except light trucks as described in this Subdivision 5, truck
1-54 tractor, trailer or semitrailer, or for any vehicle towing any
1-55 trailer, semitrailer, another motor vehicle, or any house trailer
1-56 of actual or registered gross weight, less than four thousand, five
1-57 hundred (4,500) pounds and over-all length of thirty-two (32) feet
1-58 or less, excluding the tow bar.
1-59 c. Fifty-five (55) <Fifty (50)> miles per hour
1-60 for any school bus on an interstate highway, as defined by Section
1-61 144 of this Act, and fifty (50) miles per hour for any school bus
1-62 on another highway.
1-63 "Daytime" means from one-half (1/2) hour before sunrise to
1-64 one-half (1/2) hour after sunset, and "nighttime" means at any
1-65 other hour.
1-66 "Urban District" means the territory contiguous to and
1-67 including any highway or street which is built up with structures
1-68 devoted to business, industry or dwelling houses, situated at
2-1 intervals of less than one hundred (100) feet for a distance of
2-2 one-quarter (1/4) of a mile or more on either side.
2-3 "Passenger car" means every motor vehicle, except motorcycles
2-4 and motor-driven cycles, designed for carrying ten (10) passengers
2-5 or less and used for the transportation of persons.
2-6 "Light truck" means any truck, as defined in this Act, with a
2-7 manufacturer's rated carrying capacity not to exceed two thousand
2-8 (2,000) pounds and is intended to include those trucks commonly
2-9 known as pick-up trucks, panel delivery trucks and carry-all
2-10 trucks.
2-11 The maximum speed limits set forth in this Section may be
2-12 altered as authorized in Sections 167, 168 and 169.
2-13 SECTION 2. (a) The changes in law made by this Act apply
2-14 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
2-15 Act. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed before
2-16 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
2-17 occurred before that date.
2-18 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-19 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-20 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-21 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
2-22 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-27 * * * * *