HB-4607, As Passed Senate, June 28, 2005

SENATE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 4607

     A bill to amend 1949 PA 300, entitled

"Michigan vehicle code,"

by amending section 627a (MCL 257.627a), as amended by 2000 PA 110.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

     Sec. 627a. (1) As used in this section and section 629:

     (a) "Regularly scheduled school session" means that part of a

day of student instruction that is followed by a break for lunch or

by a final dismissal of the student body for that day.

     (b) "School" means an educational institution operated by a

local school district or by a private, denominational, or parochial

organization. School does not include an educational institution

that the department of education determines has its entire student

population in residence at the institution.

     (c) "School zone" means school property on which a school

building is located and the area adjacent to the school property

that is designated by the signs required under subsection (2).

Except as otherwise provided in subsection (5), the school zone

extends not more than 1,000 feet from the property line of the

school in each direction.

     (2) Except as provided in subsection (4), the prima facie

speed limit in a school zone, which shall be in force not less than

30 minutes but not more than 1 hour before the first regularly

scheduled school session until school commences and from dismissal

until not less than 30 minutes but not more than 1 hour after the

last regularly scheduled school session, and during a lunch period

when students are permitted to leave the school, shall be 25 miles

an hour, if permanent signs designating the school zone and the

speed limit in the school zone are posted at the request of the

school superintendent. The signs shall conform to the Michigan

manual of uniform traffic control devices.

     (3) This section does not apply to a limited access highway or

to that portion of a street or highway over which a pedestrian

overhead walkway is erected, if the walkway is adjacent to school

property and is designed and located so as to be used, and is being

used, as the principal means by which students of a school that has

property adjacent to the walkway travel to and from the school.

     (4) Local authorities may increase or decrease the prima facie

speed limit within a school zone under their jurisdiction pursuant

to section 629.

     (5) Notwithstanding the requirements for a school zone as

defined in subsection (1)(c), if a school is located in an area

that requires school children to cross a state trunk line highway

or county highway that has a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or

more to attend that school, the school superintendent may submit a

request to the state transportation commission, county road

commission, or local authority having jurisdiction over the

roadway, as applicable, for a school crossing as permitted under

section 613a. If, based on the traffic engineering studies, the

road authority determines the need for a lower speed limit, the

road authority may designate the crossing as a school zone. Before

submitting a request, the school superintendent shall have

completed a school route plan as prescribed by section 7A-1 of the

Michigan manual of uniform traffic control devices.

     (6) Notwithstanding the 25-mile-per-hour prima facie speed

limit established by subsection (2), the prima facie speed limit

for any street in a school zone that has sidewalks along at least 1

side of the street, which shall be in force during the same periods

that a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit provided by subsection (2)

would otherwise be effective, shall be set at the limit requested

by the superintendent of schools with jurisdiction over the school

within the school zone, but this limit shall neither be more than

15 miles per hour below the regularly posted speed limit for that

street nor less than 25 miles per hour. Permanent signs designating

the school zone and the speed limit in the school zone shall be

posted. These signs shall conform to the Michigan manual of uniform

traffic control devices.

     (7) If appropriate, the school superintendent may request that

a sign be erected in the school zone indicating that a school is in

session year-round. A sign erected under this subsection shall be

posted on the same signpost as the school zone sign and immediately

below the school zone sign. The sign shall read "Year-Round School"

and shall conform to the Michigan manual of uniform traffic control

devices.