Panel introduces bill to allow limited 15 mph speed increase in highway passing lanes

Representative Sam Shepherd asked the House Transportation Committee to introduce RS 32316, a proposal to allow drivers to exceed the posted speed limit by up to 15 miles per hour while using passing lanes on certain highways.

"What this does is it makes it legal to exceed the speed limit posted speed limit by 15 miles an hour in a passing lane also," Shepherd said, noting that the change would apply where it is safer to pass — on short three-lane stretches — and would not allow speeding inside city limits or where the posted limit is below 55 miles per hour.

Committee members raised enforcement concerns. Representative Harris said drivers who do not want to be passed sometimes speed as well and asked whether a cap was necessary. Shepherd said the proposal is intended to complement enforcement, not replace it, and urged law enforcement to use the statute to address drivers who block traffic: "As lawmakers, we can only do so much... At some point, law enforcement has to uphold the laws that we put on the books. And I'm a little frustrated at the lack of that enforcement at passing lanes." He told the committee he hoped passage would encourage enforcement at passing lanes.

Representative Harris moved to introduce RS 32316; the committee approved the motion by voice vote. Shepherd and other members said they expect further questions and evidence at the formal bill hearing, including specifics on where the exception should apply and how enforcement would be handled.

The motion to introduce passed by voice vote; numerical tallies were not specified in the transcript.