Article III. Operation of Vehicles Generally.[179]
Secs. 18-27 to 18-32.2. Repealed.
Sec. 18-33. Maximum and minimum speed limits; posting,
etc., of school zones.[180]
No person shall drive any vehicle upon a street of this city
at a speed in excess of:
(a) Twenty-five miles per hour in a business or residential
district unless otherwise prescribed by the proper authorities
of the city pursuant to the provisions of Code of Virginia,
section 46.1-180;
(b) Thirty-five miles per hour, except in business or residence
districts and except as otherwise provided by this section
or unless otherwise prescribed by the proper authorities
of the city pursuant to the provisions of section 46.1-180 of
the Code of Virginia;
(c) Except as otherwise provided in this section, thirty-five
miles per hour on any highway other than an interstate
highway, if the vehicle is being used as a school bus carrying
children, and forty-five miles per hour on interstate highways;
provided, that for any such vehicle which neither takes
on nor discharges children between its point of origin and
point of destination, the speed limit shall be forty-five miles
per hour.
(d) Twenty-five miles per hour between portable signs, tilt
over signs or fixed blinking signs placed in or along any
street bearing the word "School." Such word shall indicate
that school children are present in the vicinity. Any signs
erected under this section shall be placed not more than six
hundred feet from the limits of the school property or crossing
in the vicinity of the school which is used by children
going to and from the school; provided, that such crossings
are not more than five hundred yards from the limits of the
school property and the city council approves such crossing
for such signs. Such portable signs shall be furnished and delivered
by the city. It shall be the duty of the principal or chief
administrative officer of each school or some responsible person
designated by the school board, preferably not a classroom
teacher, to place such portable signs in the street at a point
not more than six hundred feet from the limits of the school
property and remove such signs when their presence is no
longer required by this subsection. Such portable tilt over
signs or fixed blinking signs shall be placed in position plainly
visible to vehicular traffic approaching from either direction,
but shall not be placed so as to obstruct the street. Such portable
signs, tilt over signs or blinking signals shall be in a position
or be turned on for thirty minutes preceding regular
school hours and for thirty minutes thereafter and during such
other times as the presence of children are in such school property
or going to and from school reasonably requires a special
warning to motorists. The city council may decrease the speed
limit provided in this subsection; provided, that no such decrease
in speed limit shall be effective unless such decreased
speed limit is conspicuously posted upon the portable signs,
tilt over signs or fixed blinking signs required by this subsection.
(e) No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow
speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of
traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation
or in compliance with law.
(f) Whenever the city manager determines on the basis of
a traffic engineering and traffic investigation that slow speeds
on any part of a street consistently impede the normal and
reasonable movement of traffic, the city manager may determine
and declare a minimum speed limit to be set forth on
signs posted on such street below which no person shall drive
a vehicle except when necessary for safe operation or in compliance
with law.
(g) Pursuant to a traffic engineering and traffic survey as
requred by section 46.1-180, Code of Virginia, as amended,
the following speed limits are imposed as hereinafter set
forth:
this chapter for which no other penalty is provided shall, for a
first conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not less than
ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars or by imprisonment
for not less than one nor more than ten days, or
by both such fine and imprisonment; for a conviction for a
second such violation within one year, such person shall be
punished by a fine of not less than twenty dollars nor more
than two hundred dollars or by imprisonment in jail for not
less than one nor more than twenty days, or by both such
fine and imprisonment; for a conviction of a third or subsequent
violation within one year, such person shall be punished
by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred
dollars or by imprisonment in jail for not less than ten
days nor more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(Code 1959, § 18-22; 6-21-65, § 3.)
Sec. 18-22.1. Additional penalty for fourth conviction of certain
offenses within ten-year period.[181]
If any person, having been convicted three times of any
offense or offenses set forth in this section, within a period
of ten years, shall be again convicted of any one of such offenses
within such ten-year period, he shall, in addition to
the penalty otherwise prescribed by law for such offense, be
fined not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand
dollars and confined in jail not less than three months nor
more than twelve months. The offenses for a fourth conviction
of which such penalties may be imposed are the following:
Violations within the city of sections 18-31, 18-149 and
19-88; or violations within the state of sections 18.1-54,
46.1-176, 46.1-191 or 46.1-350 of the Code of Virginia, or of
any similar ordinance of any other county, city or town in the
state, and manslaughter involving the operation of a motor
vehicle, voluntary or involuntary; provided, that for the
purposes of this section, where more than one manslaughter
conviction results from a single act or omission, then only
the first such conviction shall constitute an offense.
In addition to the penalty hereinabove set forth in this
section, if any person shall be convicted of a fourth offense
as herein provided, the court in which such conviction is had
shall revoke the operator's or chauffeur's license of such
person for a period of five years. (6-21-65, § 30.)
