HB-4424, As Passed House, December 13, 2016

HB-4424, As Passed Senate, December 7, 2016

SENATE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 4424

     A bill to amend 1949 PA 300, entitled

"Michigan vehicle code,"

by amending sections 627a and 633 (MCL 257.627a and 257.633),

section 627a as amended by 2005 PA 88.

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 scheduled for student instruction until 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 either of the following:

     (i) An educational institution that the department of

education determines has its entire student population in residence

at the institution.

     (ii) An educational institution to which all students are

transported in motor vehicles.

     (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.A school zone extends not more than 1,000

feet from the school property line in any direction. If 2 or more

schools occupy the same property or adjacent properties, 1 of the

following applies, as applicable:

     (i) If the hours of instruction at the schools are the same,

then a single combined school zone shall be established.

     (ii) If the hours of instruction at the schools are different,

overlapping school zones shall be established.

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

speed limit A school zone speed limit on a highway segment in a

school zone, which, except as otherwise provided in this

subsection, shall be in force not less more than 30 minutes but not

more than 1 hour before the first regularly scheduled school

session, rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 minutes, until school

commences, and from dismissal until not less more 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, rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 minutes, may

be decreased by not more than 20 miles per hour less than the speed

limit normally posted but shall be not less than 25 miles an per

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.A school superintendent

may begin the 30-minute period before the first regularly scheduled

school session described in this subsection at a time that is less

than 30 minutes before the first regularly scheduled school session

and that extends beyond the time school commences, may begin the

30-minute period after dismissal at a time other than dismissal,

and, if a school has an off-campus lunch period, may designate the

period provided for off-campus lunch as a period during which the

school zone speed limit described in this subsection applies.

     (3) This section does School zone speed limits shall not apply

to a limited access highway or to that portion of a street or

highway or a highway segment 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.

(4) (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.

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

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

school is in session year-round, . A a sign erected under this

subsection reading "All Year School" 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.

     (6) Louvered signs, digital message signs, and flashing lights

may be installed to supplement or replace permanent signs required

under this section. Signs erected and maintained as required under

this section shall conform to the Michigan manual on uniform

traffic control devices.

     (7) A person who violates a speed limit established under this

section is responsible for a civil infraction.

     Sec. 633. (1) In every charge of a violation of a speed

regulation limit in this chapter, the complaint or citation and the

summons or notice to appear , shall specify the speed at which the

defendant respondent is alleged to have driven and the speed limit

applicable within the district or at the location.

     (2) The provision provisions of this chapter declaring

establishing speed limitations limits shall not be construed to

relieve the plaintiff in a civil action from the burden of proving

negligence on the part of the defendant as the proximate cause of

an accident.a traffic crash.

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect

unless all of the following bills of the 98th Legislature are

enacted into law:

     (a) House Bill No. 4423.

     (b) House Bill No. 4425.

     (c) House Bill No. 4426.