GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1997 SESSION

S.L. 1997-341
SENATE BILL 625

AN ACT TO MAKE SPEEDING IN EXCESS OF THE POSTED SPEED ON SCHOOL GROUNDS AN INFRACTION AND TO INCREASE THE PENALTY FOR SPEEDING IN A SCHOOL ZONE.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 20-141 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(e1)	Local authorities within their respective jurisdictions may authorize, by ordinance, lower speed limits than those set in subsection (b) of this section on school property.  If the lower speed limit is being set on the grounds of a public school, the local school administrative unit must request or consent to the lower speed limit.  If the lower speed limit is being set on the grounds of a private school, the governing body of the school must request or consent to the lower speed limit.  Speed limits established pursuant to this subsection shall become effective when appropriate signs giving notice of the speed limit are erected upon affected property.  A person who drives a motor vehicle on school property at a speed greater than the speed limit set and posted under this subsection is responsible for an infraction and is required to pay a penalty of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00)." 
Section 1.1.  G.S. 20-141.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-141.1.  Speed limits in school zones.
The Board of Transportation or local authorities within their respective jurisdictions may, by ordinance, set speed limits lower than those designated in G.S. 20-141 for areas adjacent to or near a public, private or parochial school. Limits set pursuant to this section shall become effective when signs are erected giving notice of the school zone, the authorized speed limit, and the days and hours when the lower limit is effective, or by erecting signs giving notice of the school zone, the authorized speed limit and which indicate the days and hours the lower limit is effective by an electronic flasher operated with a time clock. Limits set pursuant to this section may be enforced only on days when school is in session, and no speed limit below 20 miles per hour may be set under the authority of this section. A person who drives a motor vehicle in a school zone at a speed greater than the speed limit set and posted under this section is responsible for an infraction and is required to pay a penalty of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00)."
Section 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 15th day of July, 1997.
s/	Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate

s/	Harold J. Brubaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor

Approved 10:48 a.m. this 25th day of July, 1997