Bill Text: WV HB2185 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Giving local authorities the authority to decrease the speed limit on streets and highways where school buses travel in its jurisdiction
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-10 - To House Roads and Transportation [HB2185 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2018-HB2185-Introduced.html
West Virginia
Legislature
2017 Regular Session
Introduced
House Bill 2185
(By Delegate Caputo and Ward)
to the Committee on Roads and Transportation then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and
reenact §17C-6-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to
allowing local authorities the authority to lower the speed limit on streets
and highways where school buses travel; and providing that no lowering of a
speed limit is effective until approved by the Commissioner of Highways.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17C-6-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. SPEED RESTRICTIONS.
§17C-6-3. When local authorities may alter speed
limits.
(a) At intersection. --
Whenever local authorities within their respective jurisdictions determine upon
the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation that the speed
permitted under this chapter at any intersection is greater than is reasonable or
safe under the conditions found to exist at such the
intersection, such the local authority subject to subsection (e)
(f) of this section shall determine and declare a reasonable and
safe speed limit thereat, which shall be effective at all times or
during hours of daylight or darkness or at such other times as may be
determined when appropriate speed limit signs giving notice
thereof are erected at such the intersection or upon the
approaches thereto.
(b) Authority to
increase twenty-five mile limit. -- Local authorities in their respective
jurisdictions may in their discretion, but subject to subsection (e) (f)
of this section, authorize by ordinance higher speeds than those stated in
section one of this article upon through highways or upon highways or
portions thereof where there are no intersections or between widely spaced
intersections, which higher speed shall be effective at all times or during
hours of daylight or at such other times as may be determined when appropriate
speed limit signs are erected giving notice of the authorized speed,
but local authorities shall do not have authority to modify or
alter the basic rule set forth in subsection (a), section one of this
article, or in any event to authorize by ordinance a speed in excess of
fifty-five miles per hour.
(c) Authority to
decrease fifty-five mile limit. -- Whenever local authorities within their
respective jurisdictions determine upon the basis of an engineering and
traffic investigation that the speed under this chapter upon open country
highway outside a business or residence district is greater than is reasonable or
safe under the conditions found to exist upon such street or highway,
the local authority may determine and declare a reasonable and safe
limit thereon but in no event less than thirty-five miles per hour and
subject to subsection (e) (f) of this section, which reduced
limit shall be effective at all times or during hours of darkness or at other
times as may be determined when appropriate speed limit signs giving
notice thereof are erected. upon such street or highway.
(d) Authority to
decrease twenty-five mile limit.-- A municipality may in its discretion,
but subject to subsection (e) (f) of this section, authorize by
ordinance lower speeds than those stated in subdivision (2), subsection (b),
section one of this article upon local dedicated rights-of-way in a residential
district or portions thereof, which lower speed shall be effective at all times
or during hours of daylight or at such other times as may be determined when appropriate
speed limit signs are erected. giving notice of the authorized speed.
(e) Authority to
decrease speed limit on streets and highways where school buses travel. --
Whenever local authorities within their respective jurisdictions determine upon
an engineering and traffic investigation that the speed under this chapter upon
streets and highways where school buses travel is greater than is reasonable
under the conditions found to exist upon the street or highway, the local
authority may determine a reasonable limit subject to subsection (f) of this
section. This reasonable limit shall be
effective at all times or during hours of darkness, during hours of daylight or
at other times as may be determined when appropriate speed limit signs giving
notice are erected.
(e) (f) Alteration of limits on state highways
in municipalities. -- Alteration of limits on state highways or extensions
thereof in a municipality by local authorities shall not be effective until such
alteration has been approved by the Commissioner of Highways.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give local
authorities the authority to decrease the speed limit on streets and highways
where school buses travel. The bill
provides that no lowering of a speed limit is effective until approved by the Commissioner
of Highways.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be
stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring indicates new
language that would be added.
