By Talton H.B. No. 3366
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to lighting equipment on tow trucks.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 547.305, Transportation Code is amended
1-5 to read as follows:
1-6 Section 547.305. RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF LIGHTS
1-7 (a) A motor vehicle lamp or illuminating device, other than
1-8 a headlamp, spotlamp, auxiliary lamp, turn signal lamp, or
1-9 emergency vehicle or school bus warning lamp, that projects a beam
1-10 with an intensity brighter than 300 candlepower shall be directed
1-11 so that no part of the high-intensity portion of the beam strikes
1-12 the roadway at a distance of more than 75 feet from the vehicle.
1-13 (b) Except as expressly authorized by law, a person may not
1-14 operate or move equipment or a vehicle, other than a police
1-15 vehicle, with a lamp or device that displays a red light visible
1-16 from directly in front of the center of the equipment or vehicle.
1-17 (c) A person may not operate a motor vehicle equipped with a
1-18 red, white, or blue beacon, flashing, or alternating light unless
1-19 the equipment is:
1-20 (1) used as specifically authorized by this chapter;
1-21 or
1-22 (2) a running lamp, headlamp, taillamp, backup lamp,
1-23 or turn signal that is used as authorized by law.
1-24 (d) A vehicle may be equipped with alternately flashing
2-1 lighting equipment described by Section 547.701 or 547.702 only if
2-2 the vehicle is:
2-3 (1) a school bus;
2-4 (2) an authorized emergency vehicle;
2-5 (3) a church bus that has the words "church bus"
2-6 printed on the front and rear of the bus so as to be clearly
2-7 discernable to other vehicle operators.[or];
2-8 (4) a tow truck while under the direction of a law
2-9 enforcement officer at the scene of an accident or while hooking up
2-10 to a disabled vehicle on a roadway; or
2-11 (5) a tow truck with a mounted light bar which has
2-12 turn signals and stop lamps in addition to those required by
2-13 Sections 547.322, 547.323, and 547.324, Transportation Code.
2-14 (e) A person may not operate highway maintenance or service
2-15 equipment, including snow-removal equipment, that is not equipped
2-16 with lamps or that does not display lighted lamps as required by
2-17 the standards and specifications adopted by the Texas Department of
2-18 Transportation.
2-19 (f) In this section "tow truck" means a motor vehicle or
2-20 mechanical device that is adapted or used to tow, winch, or move a
2-21 disabled vehicle.
2-22 Section 2. The changes made in this Act takes effect July 1,
2-23 1999, and apply to a cause of action that accrues on or after the
2-24 effective date. A cause of action that accrued before the
2-25 effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect before
2-26 that date, and the former law is continued in effect for this
2-27 purpose.
3-1 Section 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-6 and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
3-7 terms, and it is so enacted.