1-1 By: Harris S.B. No. 343
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed January 29, 1997; February 3, 1997,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
1-4 March 3, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 12, Nays 0; March 3, 1997,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 343 By: Nixon
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to speed limits for certain vehicles on public roads and
1-11 highways.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Section 541.201, Transportation Code, is amended
1-14 to read as follows:
1-15 Sec. 541.201. VEHICLES. In this subtitle:
1-16 (1) "Authorized emergency vehicle" means:
1-17 (A) a fire department or police vehicle;
1-18 (B) a public or private ambulance operated by a
1-19 person who has been issued a license by the Texas Department of
1-20 Health;
1-21 (C) a municipal department or public service
1-22 corporation emergency vehicle that has been designated or
1-23 authorized by the governing body of a municipality;
1-24 (D) a private vehicle of a volunteer firefighter
1-25 or a certified emergency medical services employee or volunteer
1-26 when responding to a fire alarm or medical emergency;
1-27 (E) an industrial emergency response vehicle,
1-28 including an industrial ambulance, when responding to an emergency,
1-29 but only if the vehicle is operated in compliance with criteria in
1-30 effect September 1, 1989, and established by the Texas Industrial
1-31 Fire Training Board of the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals'
1-32 Association of Texas; or
1-33 (F) a vehicle of a blood bank or tissue bank,
1-34 accredited or approved under the laws of this state or the United
1-35 States, when making emergency deliveries of blood, drugs,
1-36 medicines, or organs.
1-37 (2) "Bicycle" means a device that a person may ride
1-38 and that is propelled by human power and has two tandem wheels at
1-39 least one of which is more than 14 inches in diameter.
1-40 (3) "Bus" means:
1-41 (A) a motor vehicle used to transport persons
1-42 and designed to accommodate more than 10 passengers; or
1-43 (B) a motor vehicle, other than a taxicab,
1-44 designed and used to transport persons for compensation.
1-45 (4) "Farm tractor" means a motor vehicle designed and
1-46 used primarily as a farm implement to draw an implement of
1-47 husbandry, including a plow or a mowing machine.
1-48 (5) "House trailer" means a trailer or semitrailer
1-49 that is equipped to travel on a highway and that:
1-50 (A) is designed, constructed, and equipped as a
1-51 permanent or temporary dwelling or sleeping place; or
1-52 (B) has a chassis and exterior shell designed
1-53 and constructed for a purpose described by Paragraph (A) but is
1-54 used permanently or temporarily for a commercial purpose, including
1-55 advertising, selling, displaying, or promoting merchandise or
1-56 services, other than transporting property for hire or for
1-57 distribution by a private carrier.
1-58 (6) "Implement of husbandry" means a vehicle, other
1-59 than a passenger car or truck, that is designed and adapted for use
1-60 as a farm implement, machinery, or tool for tilling the soil.
1-61 (7) "Light truck" means a truck, including a pickup
1-62 truck, panel delivery truck, or carryall truck, that has a
1-63 manufacturer's rated carrying capacity of 2,000 pounds or less.
1-64 (8) "Moped" means a motor-driven cycle that cannot
2-1 attain a speed in one mile of more than 30 miles per hour and the
2-2 engine of which:
2-3 (A) cannot produce more than two-brake
2-4 horsepower; and
2-5 (B) if an internal combustion engine, has a
2-6 piston displacement of 50 cubic centimeters or less and connects to
2-7 a power drive system that does not require the operator to shift
2-8 gears.
2-9 (9) "Motorcycle" means a motor vehicle, other than a
2-10 tractor, that is equipped with a rider's saddle and designed to
2-11 have when propelled not more than three wheels on the ground.
2-12 (10) "Motor-driven cycle" means a motorcycle equipped
2-13 with a motor that has an engine piston displacement of 125 cubic
2-14 centimeters or less.
2-15 (11) "Motor vehicle" means a self-propelled vehicle or
2-16 a vehicle that is propelled by electric power from overhead trolley
2-17 wires.
2-18 (12) "Passenger car" means a motor vehicle, other than
2-19 a motorcycle, used to transport persons and designed to accommodate
2-20 10 or fewer passengers.
2-21 (13) "Pole trailer" means a vehicle without motive
2-22 power:
2-23 (A) designed to be drawn by another vehicle and
2-24 secured to the other vehicle by pole, reach, boom, or other
2-25 security device; and
2-26 (B) ordinarily used to transport a long or
2-27 irregularly shaped load, including poles, pipes, or structural
2-28 members, generally capable of sustaining themselves as beams
2-29 between the supporting connections.
2-30 (14) "Road tractor" means a motor vehicle designed and
2-31 used to draw another vehicle but not constructed to carry a load
2-32 independently or a part of the weight of the other vehicle or its
2-33 load.
2-34 (15) "School bus" means a motor vehicle, other than a
2-35 bus used in an urban area by a common carrier to transport
2-36 schoolchildren, that:
2-37 (A) is being used to transport children to or
2-38 from a school or school-related activity; and
2-39 (B) complies with the color and identification
2-40 requirements provided in the most recent edition of standards
2-41 produced and sponsored by the National Education Association's
2-42 National Commission on Safety Education.
2-43 (16) "Semitrailer" means a vehicle with or without
2-44 motive power, other than a pole trailer:
2-45 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
2-46 to transport persons or property; and
2-47 (B) constructed so that part of the vehicle's
2-48 weight and load rests on or is carried by another vehicle.
2-49 (17) "Special mobile equipment" means a vehicle that
2-50 is not designed or used primarily to transport persons or property
2-51 and that is only incidentally operated on a highway. The term:
2-52 (A) includes ditchdigging apparatus, well boring
2-53 apparatus, and road construction and maintenance machinery,
2-54 including an asphalt spreader, bituminous mixer, bucket loader,
2-55 tractor other than a truck tractor, ditcher, levelling grader,
2-56 finishing machine, motor grader, road roller, scarifier,
2-57 earth-moving carryall and scraper, power shovel or dragline, or
2-58 self-propelled crane and earth-moving equipment; and
2-59 (B) excludes a vehicle that is designed to
2-60 transport persons or property and that has machinery attached,
2-61 including a house trailer, dump truck, truck-mounted transit mixer,
2-62 crane, and shovel.
2-63 (18) "Towable recreational vehicle" means a
2-64 nonmotorized vehicle that:
2-65 (A) is designed:
2-66 (i) to be towable by a motor vehicle; and
2-67 (ii) for temporary human habitation for
2-68 recreational camping or seasonal use;
2-69 (B) is permanently built on a single chassis;
3-1 and
3-2 (C) may contain one or more life support
3-3 systems.
3-4 (19) "Trailer" means a vehicle, other than a pole
3-5 trailer, with or without motive power:
3-6 (A) designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and
3-7 to transport persons or property; and
3-8 (B) constructed so that no part of the vehicle's
3-9 weight and load rests on the motor vehicle.
3-10 (20) [(19)] "Truck" means a motor vehicle designed,
3-11 used, or maintained primarily to transport property.
3-12 (21) [(20)] "Truck tractor" means a motor vehicle
3-13 designed and used primarily to draw another vehicle but not
3-14 constructed to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the
3-15 other vehicle and its load.
3-16 (22) [(21)] "Vehicle" means a device that can be used
3-17 to transport or draw persons or property on a highway. The term
3-18 does not include:
3-19 (A) a device exclusively used on stationary
3-20 rails or tracks; or
3-21 (B) manufactured housing as that term is defined
3-22 by the Texas Manufactured Housing Standards Act (Article 5221f,
3-23 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
3-24 SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 545.352, Transportation
3-25 Code, is amended to read as follows:
3-26 (b) Unless a special hazard exists that requires a slower
3-27 speed for compliance with Section 545.351(b), the following speeds
3-28 are lawful:
3-29 (1) 30 miles per hour in an urban district on a street
3-30 other than an alley and 15 miles per hour in an alley;
3-31 (2) 70 miles per hour in daytime and 65 miles per hour
3-32 in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle or a
3-33 passenger car trailering a "vessel" as defined by Section
3-34 31.003(2), Parks and Wildlife Code, on a highway numbered by this
3-35 state or the United States outside an urban district, including a
3-36 farm-to-market or ranch-to-market road;
3-37 (3) 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55 miles per hour
3-38 in nighttime if the vehicle is a passenger car or motorcycle on a
3-39 highway that is outside an urban district and not a highway
3-40 numbered by this state or the United States;
3-41 (4) 60 miles per hour outside an urban district if a
3-42 speed limit for the vehicle is not otherwise specified by this
3-43 section; or
3-44 (5) outside an urban district:
3-45 (A) 45 miles per hour, if the vehicle is towing
3-46 a house trailer of an actual or registered gross weight heavier
3-47 than 4,500 pounds or larger than 32 feet, excluding the tow bar;
3-48 (B) 50 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
3-49 bus on a highway other than an interstate highway;
3-50 (C) 55 miles per hour if the vehicle is a school
3-51 bus on an interstate highway; or
3-52 (D) [(C)] 60 miles per hour in daytime and 55
3-53 miles per hour in nighttime if the vehicle is a truck, other than a
3-54 light truck, or if the vehicle is a truck tractor, trailer[,] or
3-55 semitrailer, or a vehicle towing a trailer, semitrailer, towable
3-56 recreational vehicle, another motor vehicle, or house trailer of an
3-57 actual or registered gross weight lighter than 4,500 pounds and a
3-58 length of 32 feet or shorter, excluding the tow bar.
3-59 SECTION 3. (a) In addition to the substantive changes in
3-60 law made by this Act, this Act conforms the Transportation Code to
3-61 changes in law made by Section 1, Chapter 295, Acts of the 74th
3-62 Legislature, 1995.
3-63 (b) To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails over
3-64 another Act of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997,
3-65 relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
3-66 codes.
3-67 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-68 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-69 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
4-4 * * * * *