By Brimer H.B. No. 995
75R4752 DWS-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to speed limits for vehicles towing towable recreational
1-3 vehicles.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 541.201, Transportation Code, is amended
1-6 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 541.201. VEHICLES. In this subtitle:
1-8 (1) "Authorized emergency vehicle" means:
1-9 (A) a fire department or police vehicle;
1-10 (B) a public or private ambulance operated by a
1-11 person who has been issued a license by the Texas Department of
1-12 Health;
1-13 (C) a municipal department or public service
1-14 corporation emergency vehicle that has been designated or
1-15 authorized by the governing body of a municipality;
1-16 (D) a private vehicle of a volunteer firefighter
1-17 or a certified emergency medical services employee or volunteer
1-18 when responding to a fire alarm or medical emergency;
1-19 (E) an industrial emergency response vehicle,
1-20 including an industrial ambulance, when responding to an emergency,
1-21 but only if the vehicle is operated in compliance with criteria in
1-22 effect September 1, 1989, and established by the Texas Industrial
1-23 Fire Training Board of the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals'
1-24 Association of Texas; or
2-1 (F) a vehicle of a blood bank or tissue bank,
2-2 accredited or approved under the laws of this state or the United
2-3 States, when making emergency deliveries of blood, drugs,
2-4 medicines, or organs.
2-5 (2) "Bicycle" means a device that a person may ride
2-6 and that is propelled by human power and has two tandem wheels at
2-7 least one of which is more than 14 inches in diameter.
2-8 (3) "Bus" means:
2-9 (A) a motor vehicle used to transport persons
2-10 and designed to accommodate more than 10 passengers; or
2-11 (B) a motor vehicle, other than a taxicab,
2-12 designed and used to transport persons for compensation.
2-13 (4) "Farm tractor" means a motor vehicle designed and
2-14 used primarily as a farm implement to draw an implement of
2-15 husbandry, including a plow or a mowing machine.
2-16 (5) "House trailer" means a trailer or semitrailer
2-17 that is equipped to travel on a highway and that:
2-18 (A) is designed, constructed, and equipped as a
2-19 permanent or temporary dwelling or sleeping place; or
2-20 (B) has a chassis and exterior shell designed
2-21 and constructed for a purpose described by Paragraph (A) but is
2-22 used permanently or temporarily for a commercial purpose, including
2-23 advertising, selling, displaying, or promoting merchandise or
2-24 services, other than transporting property for hire or for
2-25 distribution by a private carrier.
2-26 (6) "Implement of husbandry" means a vehicle, other
2-27 than a passenger car or truck, that is designed and adapted for use
3-1 as a farm implement, machinery, or tool for tilling the soil.
3-2 (7) "Light truck" means a truck, including a pickup
3-3 truck, panel delivery truck, or carryall truck, that has a
3-4 manufacturer's rated carrying capacity of 2,000 pounds or less.
3-5 (8) "Moped" means a motor-driven cycle that cannot
3-6 attain a speed in one mile of more than 30 miles per hour and the
3-7 engine of which:
3-8 (A) cannot produce more than two-brake
3-9 horsepower; and
3-10 (B) if an internal combustion engine, has a
3-11 piston displacement of 50 cubic centimeters or less and connects to
3-12 a power drive system that does not require the operator to shift
3-13 gears.
3-14 (9) "Motorcycle" means a motor vehicle, other than a
3-15 tractor, that is equipped with a rider's saddle and designed to
3-16 have when propelled not more than three wheels on the ground.
3-17 (10) "Motor-driven cycle" means a motorcycle equipped
3-18 with a motor that has an engine piston displacement of 125 cubic
3-19 centimeters or less.
3-20 (11) "Motor vehicle" means a self-propelled vehicle or
3-21 a vehicle that is propelled by electric power from overhead trolley
3-22 wires.
3-23 (12) "Passenger car" means a motor vehicle, other than
3-24 a motorcycle, used to transport persons and designed to accommodate
3-25 10 or fewer passengers.
3-26 (13) "Pole trailer" means a vehicle without motive
3-27 power:
4-1 (A) designed to be drawn by another vehicle and
4-2 secured to the other vehicle by pole, reach, boom, or other
4-3 security device; and
4-4 (B) ordinarily used to transport a long or
4-5 irregularly shaped load, including poles, pipes, or structural
4-6 members, generally capable of sustaining themselves as beams
4-7 between the supporting connections.
4-8 (14) "Road tractor" means a motor vehicle designed and
4-9 used to draw another vehicle but not constructed to carry a load
4-10 independently or a part of the weight of the other vehicle or its
4-11 load.
4-12 (15) "School bus" means a motor vehicle, other than a
4-13 bus used in an urban area by a common carrier to transport
4-14 schoolchildren, that:
4-15 (A) is being used to transport children to or
4-16 from a school or school-related activity; and
4-17 (B) complies with the color and identification
4-18 requirements provided in the most recent edition of standards
4-19 produced and sponsored by the National Education Association's
4-20 National Commission on Safety Education.
4-21 (16) "Semitrailer" means a vehicle with or without
4-22 motive power, other than a pole trailer:
4-23 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
4-24 to transport persons or property; and
4-25 (B) constructed so that part of the vehicle's
4-26 weight and load rests on or is carried by another vehicle.
4-27 (17) "Special mobile equipment" means a vehicle that
5-1 is not designed or used primarily to transport persons or property
5-2 and that is only incidentally operated on a highway. The term:
5-3 (A) includes ditchdigging apparatus, well boring
5-4 apparatus, and road construction and maintenance machinery,
5-5 including an asphalt spreader, bituminous mixer, bucket loader,
5-6 tractor other than a truck tractor, ditcher, levelling grader,
5-7 finishing machine, motor grader, road roller, scarifier,
5-8 earth-moving carryall and scraper, power shovel or dragline, or
5-9 self-propelled crane and earth-moving equipment; and
5-10 (B) excludes a vehicle that is designed to
5-11 transport persons or property and that has machinery attached,
5-12 including a house trailer, dump truck, truck-mounted transit mixer,
5-13 crane, and shovel.
5-14 (18) "Towable recreational vehicle" means a
5-15 nonmotorized vehicle that:
5-16 (A) is designed:
5-17 (i) to be towable by a motor vehicle; and
5-18 (ii) for temporary human habitation for
5-19 recreational camping or seasonal use;
5-20 (B) is permanently built on a single chassis;
5-21 and
5-22 (C) contains one or more life support systems.
5-23 (19) "Trailer" means a vehicle, other than a pole
5-24 trailer, with or without motive power:
5-25 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
5-26 to transport persons or property; and
5-27 (B) constructed so that no part of the vehicle's
6-1 weight and load rests on the motor vehicle.
6-2 (20) [(19)] "Truck" means a motor vehicle designed,
6-3 used, or maintained primarily to transport property.
6-4 (21) [(20)] "Truck tractor" means a motor vehicle
6-5 designed and used primarily to draw another vehicle but not
6-6 constructed to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the
6-7 other vehicle and its load.
6-8 (22) [(21)] "Vehicle" means a device that can be used
6-9 to transport or draw persons or property on a highway. The term
6-10 does not include:
6-11 (A) a device exclusively used on stationary
6-12 rails or tracks; or
6-13 (B) manufactured housing as that term is defined
6-14 by the Texas Manufactured Housing Standards Act (Article 5221f,
6-15 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
6-16 SECTION 2. Section 545.352(b), Transportation Code, is
6-17 amended to read as follows:
6-18 (b) Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
6-19 speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
6-20 are lawful:
6-21 (1) 30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street
6-22 other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
6-23 (2) 70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour
6-24 in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a
6-25 highway numbered by this state or the United States outside an
6-26 urban district, including a farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road;
6-27 (3) 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour
7-1 in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a
7-2 highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway
7-3 numbered by this state or the United States;
7-4 (4) 60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a
7-5 speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
7-6 section; [or]
7-7 (5) outside an urban district:
7-8 (A) 45 miles per hour, if the vehicle is towing
7-9 a house trailer of an actual or registered gross weight heavier
7-10 than 4,500 pounds or larger than 32 feet, excluding the tow bar;
7-11 (B) 50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
7-12 bus on a highway other than an interstate highway;
7-13 (C) 55 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
7-14 bus on an interstate highway; or
7-15 (D) [(C)] 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55
7-16 miles per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a
7-17 light truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer or
7-18 semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, another
7-19 motor vehicle or house trailer of an actual or registered gross
7-20 weight lighter than 4,500 pounds and a length of 32 feet or
7-21 shorter, excluding the tow bar; or
7-22 (6) 65 miles per hour in daytime and 60 miles per hour
7-23 in nighttime if the vehicle is towing a towable recreational
7-24 vehicle.
7-25 SECTION 3. (a) In addition to the substantive changes in
7-26 law made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to
7-27 changes in law made by Section 1, Chapter 295, Acts of the 74th
8-1 Legislature, Regular Session, 1995.
8-2 (b) To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails over
8-3 another Act of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997,
8-4 relating to nonsubstantive additions and corrections in enacted
8-5 codes.
8-6 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
8-7 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
8-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
8-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
8-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.