CHAPTER 31-14
Speed Restrictions
SECTION 31-14-1
§ 31-14-1 Reasonable and prudent speeds.
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No person shall drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed greater than is
reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard to the actual and
potential hazards then existing. In every event, speed shall be so controlled
as may be necessary to avoid colliding with any person, vehicle, or other
conveyance on or entering the highway in compliance with legal requirements and
the duty of all persons to use due care. Violations of this section are subject
to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.
SECTION 31-14-2
§ 31-14-2 Prima facie limits. –
(a) Where no special hazard exists that requires lower speed for compliance
with § 31-14-1, the speed of any vehicle not in excess of the limits
specified in this section or established as authorized in this title shall be
lawful, but any speed in excess of the limits specified in this section or
established as authorized in this title shall be prima facie evidence that the
speed is not reasonable or prudent and that it is unlawful:
(1) Twenty-five miles per hour (25 mph) in any business or
residence district;
(2) Fifty miles per hour (50 mph) in other locations during
the daytime;
(3) Forty-five miles per hour (45 mph) in such other
locations during the nighttime;
(4) Twenty miles per hour (20 mph) in the area within three
hundred feet (300') of any school house grounds' entrances and exits during the
daytime during the days when schools shall be open.
(5) The provisions of subdivision (4) of this subsection
shall not apply except when appropriate warning signs are posted in proximity
with the boundaries of the area within three hundred feet (300') of the school
house grounds, entrances, and exits.
(b) Daytime means from a half hour before sunrise to a half
hour after sunset. Nighttime means at any other hour.
(c) The prima facie speed limits set forth in this section
may be altered as authorized in §§ 31-14-4 – 31-14-8.
SECTION 31-14-3
§ 31-14-3 Conditions requiring reduced
speed. –
The driver of every vehicle shall, consistent with the requirements of §
31-14-1, drive at an appropriate reduced speed when approaching and crossing an
intersection or railroad grade crossing, when approaching and going around a
curve, when approaching a hill crest, when traveling upon any narrow or winding
roadway, when special hazard exists with respect to pedestrians or other
traffic or by reason of weather or highway conditions and in the presence of
tow trucks, transporter trucks, and roadside assistance vehicles displaying
flashing amber lights while assisting a disabled motor vehicle. Violations of
this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.
SECTION 31-14-4
§ 31-14-4 Alteration of prima facie limits
by traffic commission. –
Whenever the state traffic commission shall determine upon the basis of an
engineering and traffic investigation that any prima facie speed set forth in
§ 31-14-2 is greater or less than is reasonable or safe under the
conditions found to exist at any intersection or other place or upon any part
of a highway, the commission may determine and declare a reasonable and safe
prima facie speed limit for that place which shall be effective at all times or
during hours of daylight or darkness, or at any other times that may be
determined when appropriate signs giving notice of limits are erected at the
intersection or other place or part of the highway.
SECTION 31-14-4.1
§ 31-14-4.1 Reduction of the prima facie
limits in historic districts and on scenic highways. –
Whenever the state traffic commission shall determine that any prima facie
limit set forth in § 31-14-2 is greater than is reasonable in any historic
district listed on the National Register of Historic Places or on any road duly
recognized as a scenic highway by the scenic highway board in accordance with
the provisions of chapter 14 of title 24, the commission shall determine and
declare a reasonable and safe prima facie limit, in the manner set forth in
§ 31-14-4, in order to provide for the preservation of the historical
character of the district or the scenic quality of the highway, provided that:
(1) The reduced prima facie limit shall be for a length of
road not to exceed one mile or the distance between the boundaries of the
district, whichever distance is the lesser, and
(2) The reduced prima facie limit shall not result in traffic
congestion.
SECTION 31-14-5
§ 31-14-5 Reduction by local authorities
of speed limits at local intersections and streets within business or residence
districts. –
Whenever local authorities within their respective jurisdictions determine upon
the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation that the prima facie
speed permitted under this chapter at any intersection or local street within a
business or residence districts is greater than is reasonable or safe under the
conditions found to exist at the intersection, or local street within business
or residence districts, the local authority, subject to § 31-14-8, shall
determine and declare a reasonable and safe prima facie speed limit at that
place, which shall be effective at all times or during hours of daylight or
darkness or at any other times that may be determined when appropriate signs
giving notice of it are erected at the intersection or local street within a
business or residence district or at its approaches.
SECTION 31-14-6
§ 31-14-6 Increase by local authorities of
speed limits in business and residence districts. –
Local authorities in their respective jurisdictions may in their discretion,
but subject to § 31-14-8, authorize by ordinance or by authority granted
to any organized traffic engineering department, higher prima facie speeds than
those stated in § 31-14-2 upon through highways or upon highways or
portions of highways where there are no intersections or between widely spaced
intersections, which higher prima facie speed shall be effective at all times
or during hours of daylight or at any other times that may be determined when
signs are erected giving notice of the authorized speed. Local authorities
shall not have authority to modify or alter the basic rule set forth in §
31-14-1 or in any event to authorize by ordinance a speed in excess of fifty
miles per hour (50 mph) during the daytime or forty-five miles per hour (45
mph) during nighttime.
SECTION 31-14-7
§ 31-14-7 Reduction by local authorities
of speed limits in open areas. –
Whenever local authorities within their respective jurisdictions determine upon
the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation that the prima facie
speed permitted under this chapter upon any street or highway outside a
business or residence district is greater than is reasonable or safe under the
conditions found to exist upon the street or highway, the local authority may
determine and declare a reasonable and safe prima facie limit on that street or
highway, but in no event less than thirty-five miles per hour (35 mph) and
subject to § 31-14-8, which reduced prima facie limit shall be effective
at all times or during hours of darkness or at any other times that may be
determined when appropriate signs giving notice of the authorized speed are
erected upon the street or highway.
SECTION 31-14-8
§ 31-14-8 Local alteration of limits on
state highways. –
Alteration of prima facie limits on state highways or extensions of them in a
municipality by local authorities shall not be effective until the alteration
has been approved by the state traffic commission.
SECTION 31-14-9
§ 31-14-9 Minimum speed. –
(a) No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede or
block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed
is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law.
(b) Police officers are authorized to enforce this provision
by directions to drivers, and in the event of apparent willful disobedience to
this provision and refusal to comply with direction of an officer in accordance
with this section, the continued slow operation by a driver shall be a civil
violation and is subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.
SECTION 31-14-10
§ 31-14-10 Nighttime limits for
motor-driven cycles. –
No person shall operate any motor-driven cycle at any time mentioned in §
31-24-1 at a speed greater than thirty-five miles per hour (35 mph) unless the
motor-driven cycle is equipped with a head lamp or lamps which are adequate to
reveal a person or vehicle at a distance of three hundred feet (300') ahead.
SECTION 31-14-11
§ 31-14-11 Vehicles with solid rubber or
cushion tires. –
No person shall drive any vehicle equipped with solid rubber or cushion tires
at a speed greater than a maximum of ten miles per hour (10 mph).
SECTION 31-14-12
§ 31-14-12 Speed limits on bridges and
structures. –
(a) No person shall drive a vehicle over any bridge or other elevated structure
constituting a part of a highway at a speed which is greater than the maximum
speed which can be maintained with safety to the bridge or structure, when the
structure is signposted as provided in this section.
(b) The state traffic commission upon request from any local
authority shall, or upon its own initiative may, conduct an investigation of
any bridge or other elevated structure constituting a part of a highway. If it
shall find that the structure cannot with safety to itself withstand vehicles
traveling at the speed otherwise permissible under this chapter, the commission
shall determine and declare the maximum speed of vehicles which the structure
can withstand, and shall cause or permit suitable signs stating the maximum
speed to be erected and maintained at a distance of one hundred feet (100')
before each end of the structure.
(c) Upon the trial of any person charged with a violation of
this section, proof of the determination of the maximum speed by the commission
and the existence of the signs shall constitute conclusive evidence of the
maximum speed which can be maintained with safety to the bridge or structure.
(d) Violations of this section are subject to fines
enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.
SECTION 31-14-12.1
§ 31-14-12.1 Special speed limits in
highway construction and maintenance operations. –
(a) Whenever the department of administration or local governing unit with
jurisdiction over the highways determines that the preexisting established
speed limit through a highway construction or maintenance operation is greater
than is reasonable or safe with respect to the conditions expected to exist in
that operation, it may, on highways under its respective jurisdiction,
determine and declare reasonable and safe absolute maximum temporary speed
limits applicable through all or part of the operation. A temporary speed limit
so determined and declared shall become effective and shall suspend the
applicability of any other speed limit prescribed in this chapter when
appropriate signs of the design prescribed by the department giving notice of
the limits are erected at or along the operation. When these signs are erected,
the total of fines, penalties, and costs assessed upon conviction shall be
twice the amount otherwise set by the general laws.
(b) When street, highway or bridge construction, or a
maintenance operation is present, the department of administration or local
governing unit with jurisdiction over the street or highway shall erect signs
declaring that the fine for a conviction of a traffic violation, as defined by
§ 31-41.1-4, through the "temporary traffic control zone" shall be
doubled. When these signs are erected, the total of the fines, penalties, and
costs assessed upon conviction shall be twice the amount otherwise set by the
general laws. The prescribed legend for the signs shall be established by the
department of administration.
(c) For the purposes of this section, "temporary traffic
control zone" means that portion of a bridge, street, or highway that is
identified by official traffic-control devices. The zone includes the entire
section of roadway between the first advance warning sign through the last
traffic control device, where traffic returns to its normal path and
conditions. This zone shall exist throughout the duration of the construction
or maintenance operation or as long as the signs remain.
SECTION 31-14-13
§ 31-14-13 Burden of proof in civil
actions. –
The provisions of this chapter declaring prima facie speed limitations shall
not be construed to relieve the plaintiff in any civil action from the burden
of proving negligence on the part of the defendant as the proximate cause of an
accident.
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