Tennessee Code 55-8-152 – Speed limits – Penalties

(a) Except as provided in subsection (c), it is unlawful for any person to operate or drive a motor vehicle upon any highway or public road of this state in excess of sixty-five miles per hour (65 mph).

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 55-8-152

• Answer : The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Chauffeur : means every person who is employed by another for the principal purpose of driving a motor vehicle and every person who drives a school bus transporting school children or any motor vehicle when in use for the transportation of persons or property for compensation. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Commissioner : means the commissioner of safety. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Controlled-access highway : means every highway, street or roadway in respect to which owners or occupants of abutting lands and other persons have no legal right of access to or from the same, except at such points only and in such manner as may be determined by the public authority having jurisdiction over the highway, street or roadway. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Conviction : A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Defendant : In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department : means the department of safety. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Driver : means : (A) For purposes of a conventionally operated vehicle, every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Highway : means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way when any part thereto is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Jurisdiction : (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Operator : means : (A) For purposes of a conventionally operated vehicle, every person, other than a chauffeur, who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising control over or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Person : means a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, or an engaged ADS. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Presiding officer : A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Recess : A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Road : includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Roadway : means that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• State : when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Street : means the entire width between boundary lines of every way when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Traffic : means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Truck : means every motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
• Vehicle : means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101

(b) “Truck,” as used in this section, means any motor vehicle of one and one-half (11/2) ton rated capacity or more. (c) On all controlled-access highways with four (4) or more lanes, which are designated as being on the state system of highways or the state system of interstate highways, it is unlawful for any person to operate or drive a motor vehicle or a truck at a rate of speed in excess of seventy miles per hour (70 mph). In the left-hand lane of all controlled-access highways with four (4) or more lanes, which are designated as being on the state system of highways or the state system of interstate highways, it is unlawful for any person to operate or drive a motor vehicle at a rate of speed less than fifty-five miles per hour (55 mph). (d)

(1)

(A) Except as provided for certain counties in subdivision (d)(2), counties and municipalities are authorized to establish special speed limits upon any highway or public road of this state within their jurisdiction , except at school entrances and exits to and from controlled access highways on the system of state highways, which is adjacent to school grounds that are devoted primarily to normal school day activity. Such speed limit shall be enacted based on an engineering investigation, shall not be less than fifteen miles per hour (15 mph) and shall be in effect only when proper signs are posted with a warning flasher or flashers in operation and only while children are actually present. (B) In any county or municipality where the local legislative body does not establish special speed limits as provided for above, any person who shall drive at a speed exceeding fifteen miles per hour (15 mph) when passing a school during a recess period when a warning flasher or flashers are in operation, or during a period of ninety (90) minutes before the opening hour of a school or a period of ninety (90) minutes after the closing hour of a school, while children are actually going to or leaving school, shall be prima facie guilty of reckless driving. (C) The department of transportation has the authority to establish such special speed limits at school entrances and exits to and from controlled access highways on the system of state highways. (D) A municipality may adopt an ordinance by majority vote of the municipal governing body to establish a special speed limit upon a public road, street , or highway within its jurisdiction that is adjacent to or within one-fourth (1/4) mile of a zone classified by the municipality for residential use. Notwithstanding another law to the contrary, a violation of the special speed limit established pursuant to this subdivision (d)(1)(D) is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by fine only of two hundred dollars ($200). (2) In counties of not less than forty-three thousand seven hundred (43,700) nor more than forty-three thousand eight hundred (43,800) and counties of not less than one hundred forty-three thousand (143,000) nor more than one hundred forty-five thousand (145,000) and counties of not less than eighty-five thousand seven hundred twenty-five (85,725) nor more than eighty-five thousand eight hundred twenty-five (85,825) and counties of not less than four hundred seventy-seven thousand eight hundred (477,800) nor more than four hundred seventy-seven thousand nine hundred (477,900), according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census, counties and municipalities are authorized to establish special speed limits upon any highway or public road of this state within their jurisdiction, except at school entrances and exits to and from controlled access highways on the system of state highways, which is adjacent to or within one-fourth (1/4) mile of school grounds that are devoted to normal school day activities. Such speed limit shall be enacted based on an engineering investigation and shall not be less than fifteen miles per hour (15 mph) and shall be in effect only when proper signs are posted with a warning flasher or flashers in operation. In any county or municipality where the local legislative body does not establish special speed limits as provided for above, any person who drives at a speed exceeding fifteen miles per hour (15 mph) when passing a school during a recess period when a warning flasher or flashers are in operation, or during a period of forty (40) minutes before the opening hour of a school or a period of forty (40) minutes after the closing hour of a school, while children are actually going to or leaving school, is prima facie guilty of reckless driving. The department of transportation has the authority to establish such special speed limits at school entrances and exits to and from controlled access highways on the system of state highways. (e)

(1) The fees of sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and other police officers, other than salaried officers, for making arrests for violations of the speed restrictions of this chapter, shall be one dollar ($1.00). (2) The reference to sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and other police officers in subdivision (e)(1) also includes constables in counties of this state having a population of: