An Act To Impose a Maximum Speed Limit of 45 Miles Per Hour on Roads on Which a School Bus Stop Is Located
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 29-A MRSA §2074, sub-§1, ¶D, as amended by PL 2005, c. 577, §30, is further amended to read:
D. Forty-five miles per hour on all other public ways unless otherwise posted; and
Sec. 2. 29-A MRSA §2074, sub-§1, ¶E, as amended by PL 2005, c. 577, §30, is further amended to read:
E. On ways with a higher maximum speed limit, 45 miles per hour for a school bus transporting pupils to and from school. At all other times, a school bus may not exceed 55 miles per hour . ; and
Sec. 3. 29-A MRSA §2074, sub-§1, ¶G is enacted to read:
G. Forty-five miles per hour on a public way on which a school bus stop is located. A municipality may petition the Department of Transportation to exempt from this speed limit a portion of a public way within that municipality affected by this paragraph upon a showing that the portion of the public way to be exempted does not have a school bus stop and is an appropriately safe distance from the nearest school bus stop in the discretion of the Department of Transportation. For purposes of this paragraph, "school bus stop" means any designated point on a public way on which a school bus stops to pick up or discharge a student.
summary
This bill imposes a maximum speed limit of 45 miles per hour on a public way on which a school bus stop is located and allows a municipality to petition to exempt a portion of that public way from the speed limit upon a showing that there is no school bus stop located in that portion and the portion is an appropriately safe distance from the nearest school bus stop.