By Corte H.B. No. 122
75R295 DWS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to speed limits for certain vehicles.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. (a) Sections 545.352(b) and (d), Transportation
1-5 Code, are amended to conform to Section 1, Chapter 295, Acts of
1-6 the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, and further amended to
1-7 read as follows:
1-8 (b) Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
1-9 speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
1-10 are lawful:
1-11 (1) 30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street
1-12 other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
1-13 (2) if the vehicle is a passenger car, motorcycle,
1-14 truck, truck tractor, trailer, or semitrailer, or a vehicle towing
1-15 a trailer, a semitrailer, another motor vehicle, or a house trailer
1-16 of an actual or registered gross weight lighter than 4,500 pounds
1-17 and a length of 32 feet or shorter, excluding the tow bar:
1-18 (A) 70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles
1-19 per hour in nighttime [if the vehicle is a passenger car or
1-20 motorcycle] on a highway numbered by this state or the United
1-21 States outside an urban district, including a farm-to-market or
1-22 ranch-to-market road; or
1-23 (B) [(3)] 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55
2-1 miles per hour in nighttime [if the vehicle is a passenger car or
2-2 motorcycle] on a highway that is outside an urban district and not
2-3 a highway numbered by this state or the United States;
2-4 (3) [(4)] 60 miles per hour outside an urban district
2-5 if a speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
2-6 section; or
2-7 (4) [(5)] outside an urban district:
2-8 (A) 45 miles per hour, if the vehicle is towing
2-9 a house trailer of an actual or registered gross weight heavier
2-10 than 4,500 pounds or larger than 32 feet, excluding the tow bar;
2-11 (B) 50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
2-12 bus on a highway other than an interstate highway; or
2-13 (C) 55 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
2-14 bus on an interstate highway[; or]
2-15 [(C) 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles
2-16 per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a light
2-17 truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer, or
2-18 semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, another
2-19 motor vehicle or house trailer of an actual or registered gross
2-20 weight lighter than 4,500 pounds and a length of 32 feet or
2-21 shorter, excluding the tow bar].
2-22 (d) In this section:
2-23 (1) "Interstate highway" means a segment of the
2-24 national system of interstate and defense highways that is:
2-25 (A) located in this state;
2-26 (B) officially designated by the Texas
2-27 Transportation Commission; and
3-1 (C) approved under Title 23, United States Code.
3-2 ["Light truck" means a truck with a manufacturer's rated carrying
3-3 capacity of not more than 2,000 pounds, including a pick-up truck,
3-4 panel delivery truck, and carry-all truck.]
3-5 (2) "Urban district" means the territory adjacent to
3-6 and including a highway, if the territory is improved with
3-7 structures that are used for business, industry, or dwelling houses
3-8 and are located at intervals of less than 100 feet for a distance
3-9 of at least one-quarter mile on either side of the highway.
3-10 (b) Section 1, Chapter 295, Acts of the 74th Legislature,
3-11 Regular Session, 1995, is repealed.
3-12 SECTION 2. Subchapter H, Chapter 545, Transportation Code,
3-13 is amended by adding Section 545.3585 to read as follows:
3-14 Sec. 545.3585. UNIFORM SPEED LIMITS FOR CERTAIN VEHICLES.
3-15 An entity may not establish a speed limit under Section 545.353,
3-16 545.354, 545.355, 545.356, or 545.358 for a truck, truck tractor,
3-17 trailer, or semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, a
3-18 semitrailer, another motor vehicle, or a house trailer of an actual
3-19 or registered gross weight lighter than 4,500 pounds and a length
3-20 of 32 feet or shorter, excluding the tow bar, that is different
3-21 from the speed limit established for a passenger car on the same
3-22 part of a highway.
3-23 SECTION 3. In addition to the changes made by this Act to
3-24 the speed limit for a truck, truck tractor, trailer, or
3-25 semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, a semitrailer, another
3-26 motor vehicle, or a house trailer of an actual or registered gross
3-27 weight lighter than 4,500 pounds and a length of 32 feet or
4-1 shorter, this Act updates the Transportation Code by incorporating
4-2 the changes made by the 74th Legislature to the speed limit for a
4-3 school bus.
4-4 SECTION 4. A speed limit that was established before the
4-5 effective date of this Act under Section 545.353, 545.354, 545.355,
4-6 545.356, or 545.358, Transportation Code, or a predecessor of one
4-7 of those sections, and that would not conform with Section
4-8 545.3585, Transportation Code, as added by this Act, remains in
4-9 effect until changed by the entity that established the limit.
4-10 Before January 1, 1998, the entity that established such a limit
4-11 shall change the limit to conform with Section 545.3585,
4-12 Transportation Code, as added by this Act.
4-13 SECTION 5. (a) A change in a speed limit made by or under
4-14 this Act applies only to an offense committed on or after the
4-15 effective date of the change. For purposes of this section, an
4-16 offense was committed before the effective date of a change in a
4-17 speed limit if any element of the offense occurred before that
4-18 date.
4-19 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of a
4-20 change in a speed limit is covered by the law in effect when the
4-21 offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect
4-22 for that purpose.
4-23 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
4-24 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
4-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.