CHAPTER 153

An Act to amend and reenact § 46.1-193 of the Code of Virginia, relating
to maximum and minimum speed limits.
[H 157]

Approved March 3, 1960

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 46.1-193 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted
as follows:

§ 46.1-193. No person shall drive any vehicle upon a highway of
this State at a speed in excess of :

(a) Sixty miles per hour on highways under the jurisdiction of the
State Highway Commission or a city and specified in this paragraph and
in accordance herewith if the vehicle is a passenger motor vehicle, passen-
ger bus, United States post office bus, pick-up or panel truck not exceeding
an actual gross weight of 5,000 pounds, or a motorcycle, or fifty miles per
hour tf the vehicle is a truck, road tractor, tractor-truck, or combination of
vehicles designed to transport property and if the highway has four or
more lanes, with the roadway for traffic traveling in one direction sepa-
rated from the roadway for traffic traveling in the other direction by a
physical barrier or an unpaved area; provided that for such highway such
speed has been prescribed by the State Highway Commission after an engi-
neering and traffic investigation. On any highway where such speed is
prescribed the speeds shall be plainly indicated upon the highway by signs;
and where the speed limit is indicated by posted signs, there shall be a
prima facie presumption that such engineering and traffic investigation
was .
(a-1) Except as hereinafter otherwise prescribed fifty-five miles per
hour on other highways if the vehicle is a passenger motor vehicle, passen-
ger bus, United States post office bus, pick-up or panel truck not exceeding
an actual gross weight of 5,000 pounds, or a motorcycle;

(b) Forty-five miles per hour if the vehicle is a truck, road tractor,
tractor-truck, or combination of vehicles designed to transport property
or is a motor vehicle being used to tow a vehicle designed for self-propul-
sion or a house trailer;

(c) Thirty-five miles per hour if the vehicle is being used as a school
bus carrying children;

(d) Forty-five miles per hour if the vehicle or combination of
vehicles is operating under a special permit issued by the State Highway
Commission in accordance with §§ 46.1-330 and 46.1-343. The State High-
way Commission may, however, prescribe a speed limit of less than forty-
five miles per hour on any permit issued in accordance with §§ 46.1-330
and 46.1-343;

(e) A speed lower than the speeds prescribed in paragraphs (a)
through (d) of this section when such lower speed has been prescribed by
the State Highway Commission * and is plainly indicated upon the high-
way by signs;

(f) And, irrespective of the type or use of the vehicle driven:

(1) Twenty-five miles per hour between portable signs or fixed blink-
ing signs placed in the highway bearing the word “school’’ which word
shall indicate that school children are present in the immediate vicinity.
If the portion of the highway to be posted is within the limits of a city
or town, such portable signs shall be furnished and delivered by such city
or town. If the portion of the highway to be posted is outside the limits
of a city or town such portable signs shall be furnished and delivered by
the State Highway Department. It shall be the duty of the principal or
chief administrative officer of each school or some responsible person
designated by the school board to place such portable signs in the highway
at the limits of the school property and remove such signs when their
presence is no longer required by this subsection. Such portable or fixed
blinking signs shall be placed in a position plainly visible to vehicular
traffic approaching from either direction but shall not be placed so as to
obstruct the roadway. Such portable signs shall be in position for 30
minutes preceding regular school hours and for 30 minutes thereafter and
during such other times as the presence of children on such school prop-
erty reasonably requires a special warning to motorists. Provided, how-
ever, the governing body of any city or town may, if the portion of the
highway to be posted is within the limits of such city or town, decrease
the speed limit provided in this subsection, and provided further that no
such decrease in speed limit shall be effective unless such decreased speed
limit is conspicuously posted upon the portable or fixed blinking signs
required by this subsection,

(2) Twenty-five miles per hour in a business or residential district
unless otherwise prescribed by the proper authorities of any city or town
pursuant to the provisions of § 46.1-180,

(8) Thirty-five miles per hour in any city or town unless otherwise
prescribed by the proper authorities of such city or town pursuant to the
provisions of § 46.1-180,

(4) A speed higher or lower than those prescribed in subparagraphs
(1) through (3) upon any highway maintained by the State Highway
Department when such higher or lower speed is prescribed by the State
Highway Commission based upon an engineering and traffic investigation
and is plainly indicated upon the highway by signs;

(g) No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to
impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when re-
duced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law;
(h) Whenever the State Highway Commission or local authorities
within their respective jurisdictions determine on the basis of an eng!-
neering and traffic investigation that slow speeds on any part of a highway
consistently impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, the
Commission or such local authority may determine and declare a minimum
speed limit to be set forth on signs posted on such highway below which
no person shall drive a vehicle except when necessary for safe operation
or in compliance with law provided that such minimum speed limit shall
not apply to a school bus carrying children;

(i) Any person violating this section shall be guilty of a misde-
meanor and upon conviction shall be punished as provided in § 46.1-16.