Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Traffic Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee advances bill to allow limited speed increase for passing lanes on two-lane highways
Summary
The committee voted to advance House Bill 205, which would allow drivers on two-lane highways with speed limits of 55–65 mph to exceed the posted limit by up to 15 mph only while using a passing lane. AAA requested an amendment to exclude interstates; sponsor and committee declined changes and the bill was recommended to the floor.
Representative Shepherd brought House Bill 205 before the committee, saying the measure aims to clarify when drivers may exceed posted speeds on two-lane highways. "If it's safe to pass where there's only 2 lanes at this speed then it should be even safer to pass in a marked passing lane," Shepherd said, summarizing the bill's intent.
The bill would permit drivers on two-lane highways with posted speed limits between 55 and 65 mph to go up to 15 mph over the limit only for the purpose of passing, and only in a marked passing lane or a regular passing location, according to Shepherd's explanation to the committee.
Michael Kane, representing AAA, asked the committee to add a single-sentence amendment to clarify that the allowance would not apply to interstate lanes. "We think that we don't want it to and so for obvious reasons we don't think you should go 95 on the freeway," Kane said, describing AAA's proposed friendly amendment.
Shepherd responded that the law had been on the books for five or six years without significant problems and that the committee should not necessarily modify the bill. After discussion, Representative Crane moved to send House Bill 205 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation. The motion carried on a voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.
The bill as presented applies the temporary speed allowance to passing situations on two-lane highways with the specified speed-range criteria; the committee did not adopt the AAA-proposed amendment excluding interstate highways.
The committee record shows the motion to advance passed by voice vote; the transcript does not record a roll-call tally or named votes for this item.
