By: Harris S.B. No. 343
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to speed limits for certain vehicles on public roads and
1-2 highways.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 541.201, Transportation Code, is amended
1-5 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 541.201. VEHICLES. In this subtitle:
1-7 (1) "Authorized emergency vehicle" means:
1-8 (A) a fire department or police vehicle;
1-9 (B) a public or private ambulance operated by a
1-10 person who has been issued a license by the Texas Department of
1-11 Health;
1-12 (C) a municipal department or public service
1-13 corporation emergency vehicle that has been designated or
1-14 authorized by the governing body of a municipality;
1-15 (D) a private vehicle of a volunteer firefighter
1-16 or a certified emergency medical services employee or volunteer
1-17 when responding to a fire alarm or medical emergency;
1-18 (E) an industrial emergency response vehicle,
1-19 including an industrial ambulance, when responding to an emergency,
1-20 but only if the vehicle is operated in compliance with criteria in
1-21 effect September 1, 1989, and established by the Texas Industrial
1-22 Fire Training Board of the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals'
1-23 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.
3-1 (6) "Implement of husbandry" means a vehicle, other
3-2 than a passenger car or truck, that is designed and adapted for use
3-3 as a farm implement, machinery, or tool for tilling the soil.
3-4 (7) "Light truck" means a truck, including a pickup
3-5 truck, panel delivery truck, or carryall truck, that has a
3-6 manufacturer's rated carrying capacity of 2,000 pounds or less.
3-7 (8) "Moped" means a motor-driven cycle that cannot
3-8 attain a speed in one mile of more than 30 miles per hour and the
3-9 engine of which:
3-10 (A) cannot produce more than two-brake
3-11 horsepower; and
3-12 (B) if an internal combustion engine, has a
3-13 piston displacement of 50 cubic centimeters or less and connects to
3-14 a power drive system that does not require the operator to shift
3-15 gears.
3-16 (9) "Motorcycle" means a motor vehicle, other than a
3-17 tractor, that is equipped with a rider's saddle and designed to
3-18 have when propelled not more than three wheels on the ground.
3-19 (10) "Motor-driven cycle" means a motorcycle equipped
3-20 with a motor that has an engine piston displacement of 125 cubic
3-21 centimeters or less.
3-22 (11) "Motor vehicle" means a self-propelled vehicle or
3-23 a vehicle that is propelled by electric power from overhead trolley
3-24 wires.
3-25 (12) "Passenger car" means a motor vehicle, other than
4-1 a motorcycle, used to transport persons and designed to accommodate
4-2 10 or fewer passengers.
4-3 (13) "Pole trailer" means a vehicle without motive
4-4 power:
4-5 (A) designed to be drawn by another vehicle and
4-6 secured to the other vehicle by pole, reach, boom, or other
4-7 security device; and
4-8 (B) ordinarily used to transport a long or
4-9 irregularly shaped load, including poles, pipes, or structural
4-10 members, generally capable of sustaining themselves as beams
4-11 between the supporting connections.
4-12 (14) "Road tractor" means a motor vehicle designed and
4-13 used to draw another vehicle but not constructed to carry a load
4-14 independently or a part of the weight of the other vehicle or its
4-15 load.
4-16 (15) "School bus" means a motor vehicle, other than a
4-17 bus used in an urban area by a common carrier to transport
4-18 schoolchildren, that:
4-19 (A) is being used to transport children to or
4-20 from a school or school-related activity; and
4-21 (B) complies with the color and identification
4-22 requirements provided in the most recent edition of standards
4-23 produced and sponsored by the National Education Association's
4-24 National Commission on Safety Education.
4-25 (16) "Semitrailer" means a vehicle with or without
5-1 motive power, other than a pole trailer:
5-2 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
5-3 to transport persons or property; and
5-4 (B) constructed so that part of the vehicle's
5-5 weight and load rests on or is carried by another vehicle.
5-6 (17) "Special mobile equipment" means a vehicle that
5-7 is not designed or used primarily to transport persons or property
5-8 and that is only incidentally operated on a highway. The term:
5-9 (A) includes ditchdigging apparatus, well boring
5-10 apparatus, and road construction and maintenance machinery,
5-11 including an asphalt spreader, bituminous mixer, bucket loader,
5-12 tractor other than a truck tractor, ditcher, levelling grader,
5-13 finishing machine, motor grader, road roller, scarifier,
5-14 earth-moving carryall and scraper, power shovel or dragline, or
5-15 self-propelled crane and earth-moving equipment; and
5-16 (B) excludes a vehicle that is designed to
5-17 transport persons or property and that has machinery attached,
5-18 including a house trailer, dump truck, truck-mounted transit mixer,
5-19 crane, and shovel.
5-20 (18) "Towable recreational vehicle" means a
5-21 nonmotorized vehicle that:
5-22 (A) is designed:
5-23 (i) to be towable by a motor vehicle; and
5-24 (ii) for temporary human habitation for
5-25 recreational camping or seasonal use;
6-1 (B) is permanently built on a single chassis;
6-2 and
6-3 (C) may contain one or more life support
6-4 systems.
6-5 (19) "Trailer" means a vehicle, other than a pole
6-6 trailer, with or without motive power:
6-7 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
6-8 to transport persons or property; and
6-9 (B) constructed so that no part of the vehicle's
6-10 weight and load rests on the motor vehicle.
6-11 (20) [(19)] "Truck" means a motor vehicle designed,
6-12 used, or maintained primarily to transport property.
6-13 (21) [(20)] "Truck tractor" means a motor vehicle
6-14 designed and used primarily to draw another vehicle but not
6-15 constructed to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the
6-16 other vehicle and its load.
6-17 (22) [(21)] "Vehicle" means a device that can be used
6-18 to transport or draw persons or property on a highway. The term
6-19 does not include:
6-20 (A) a device exclusively used on stationary
6-21 rails or tracks; or
6-22 (B) manufactured housing as that term is defined
6-23 by the Texas Manufactured Housing Standards Act (Article 5221f,
6-24 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
6-25 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 545.352, Transportation
7-1 Code, is amended to read as follows:
7-2 (b) Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
7-3 speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
7-4 are lawful:
7-5 (1) 30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street
7-6 other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
7-7 (2) 70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour
7-8 in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle or a
7-9 passenger car or light truck trailering a "vessel" as defined by
7-10 Section 31.003(2), Parks and Wildlife Code, and falling within the
7-11 description for "Class A" or "Class 1" under Section 31.026(a),
7-12 Parks and Wildlife Code, on a highway numbered by this state or the
7-13 United States outside an urban district, including a farm-to-market
7-14 or ranch-to-market road;
7-15 (3) 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour
7-16 in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a
7-17 highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway
7-18 numbered by this state or the United States;
7-19 (4) 60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a
7-20 speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
7-21 section; or
7-22 (5) outside an urban district:
7-23 (A) 45 miles per hour, if the vehicle is towing
7-24 a house trailer of an actual or registered gross weight heavier
7-25 than 4,500 pounds or larger than 32 feet, excluding the tow bar;
8-1 (B) 50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
8-2 bus on a highway other than an interstate highway;
8-3 (C) 55 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
8-4 bus on an interstate highway; or
8-5 (D) [(C)] 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55
8-6 miles per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a
8-7 light truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer[,] or
8-8 semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, towable
8-9 recreational vehicle, another motor vehicle, or house trailer of an
8-10 actual or registered gross weight lighter than 4,500 pounds and a
8-11 length of 32 feet or shorter, excluding the tow bar.
8-12 SECTION 3. (a) In addition to the substantive changes in
8-13 law made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to
8-14 changes in law made by Section 1, Chapter 295, Acts of the 74th
8-15 Legislature, 1995.
8-16 (b) To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails over
8-17 another Act of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997,
8-18 relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
8-19 codes.
8-20 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
8-21 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
8-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
8-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
8-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.