AN ACT Relating to speed limits; and amending RCW 46.52.130, 46.61.400, 46.61.415, and 46.61.465.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. Section 27, chapter 21, Laws of 1961 ex. sess. as last amended by section 11, chapter 1, Laws of 1985 1st ex. sess. and RCW 46.52.130 are each amended to read as follows:

Any request for a certified abstract must specify which part is requested, and only the part requested shall be furnished. The employment driving record part shall be furnished only to the individual named in the abstract, an employer, the insurance carrier that has insurance in effect covering the employer, or a prospective employer. The other part shall be furnished only to the individual named in the abstract, the insurance carrier that has insurance in effect covering the named individual, or the insurance carrier to which the named individual has applied. The director, upon proper request, shall furnish a certified abstract covering the period of not more than the last three years, and the abstract, whenever possible, shall include an enumeration of motor vehicle accidents in which the person was involved; the total number of vehicles involved; whether the vehicles were legally parked or moving; whether the vehicles were occupied at the time of the accident; and any reported convictions, forfeitures of bail, or findings that an infraction was committed based upon a violation of any motor vehicle law. The enumeration shall include any reports of failure to appear in response to a traffic citation or failure to respond to a notice of infraction served upon the named individual by an arresting officer.

The abstract provided to an insurance company shall have excluded from it any information pertaining to any occupational driver's license when the license is issued to any person employed by another or self-employed as a motor vehicle driver who during the five years preceding the request has been issued such a license by reason of a conviction or finding of a traffic infraction involving a motor vehicle offense outside the scope of his principal employment, and who has during that period been principally employed as a motor vehicle driver deriving the major portion of his income therefrom. The abstract provided to the insurance company shall also exclude any information pertaining to law enforcement officers or fire fighters as defined in RCW 41.26.030, or any member of the Washington state patrol, while driving official vehicles in the performance of occupational duty during an emergency situation if the chief of the officer's or fire fighter's department certifies on the accident report that the actions of the officer or fire fighter were reasonable under the circumstances as they existed at the time of the accident. The abstract provided to the insurance company shall also exclude any traffic infraction of violating energy use restrictions under RCW 46.61.400(2).

The director shall collect for each abstract the sum of three dollars and fifty cents which shall be deposited in the highway safety fund.

Any insurance company or its agent receiving the certified abstract shall use it exclusively for its own underwriting purposes and shall not divulge any of the information contained in it to a third party. No policy of insurance may be canceled on the basis of such information unless the policyholder was determined to be at fault. No insurance company or its agent for underwriting purposes relating to the operation of commercial motor vehicles may use any information contained in the abstract relative to any person's operation of motor vehicles while not engaged in such employment.

Any employer or prospective employer receiving the certified abstract shall use it exclusively for his own purpose to determine whether the licensee should be permitted to operate a commercial vehicle or school bus upon the public highways of this state and shall not divulge any information contained in it to a third party.

Any violation of this section is a gross misdemeanor.

Sec. 2. Section 1, chapter 16, Laws of 1963 as amended by section 54, chapter 155, Laws of 1965 ex. sess. and RCW 46.61.400 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) ((No)) A person ((~~shall~~)) commits the traffic infraction of violating the basic speed rule if he drives 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.

(2) A person commits the traffic infraction of violating energy resource use restrictions if he operates a motor vehicle on: (a) A highway posted at fifty-five miles per hour at a speed in excess thereof but not over the speed posted for the highway on October 1, 1973; or (b) a highway constructed or reconstructed and posted at fifty-five miles per hour at a speed in excess thereof but not over the speed that would have been posted for the highway before October 1, 1973, if the speed were set using the criteria set forth in RCW 46.61.400, 46.61.410, and 46.61.430.

(3) The traffic infractions described in subsections (1) and (2) of this section are separate and distinct infractions, but no person may be cited for both infractions simultaneously.

(4) Except when a special hazard exists that requires lower speed for compliance with subsection (1) of this section, the limits specified in this section or established as hereinafter authorized shall be maximum lawful speeds, and no person shall drive a vehicle on a highway at a speed in excess of such maximum limits.

(a) Twenty-five miles per hour on city and town streets;

(b) Fifty miles per hour on county roads;

The maximum speed limits set forth in this section may be altered as authorized in RCW 46.61.405, 46.61.410, and 46.61.415.

((~~(3)~~)) (5) The driver of every vehicle shall, consistent with the requirements of subsection (1) of this section, drive at an appropriate reduced speed when approaching and crossing an intersection or railway grade crossing, when approaching and going around a curve, when approaching a hill crest, when traveling upon any narrow or winding roadway, and when special hazard exists with respect to pedestrians or other traffic or by reason of weather or highway conditions.

Sec. 3. Section 4, chapter 16, Laws of 1963 as last amended by section 36, chapter 151, Laws of 1977 ex. sess. and RCW 46.61.415 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Whenever local authorities in their respective jurisdictions determine on the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation that the maximum speed permitted under RCW 46.61.400 or 46.61.440 is greater or less than is reasonable and safe under the conditions found to exist upon a highway or part of a highway, the local authority may determine and declare a reasonable and safe maximum limit thereon which:

(a) Decreases the limit at intersections; or

(b) Increases the limit but not to more than sixty miles per hour; or

(2) Local authorities in their respective jurisdictions shall determine by an engineering and traffic investigation the proper maximum speed for all arterial streets and shall declare a reasonable and safe maximum limit thereon which may be greater or less than the maximum speed permitted under RCW 46.61.400((~~(2)~~))(4) but shall not exceed sixty miles per hour.

(3) The secretary of transportation is authorized to establish speed limits on county roads and city and town streets as shall be necessary to conform with any federal requirements which are a prescribed condition for the allocation of federal funds to the state.

(4) Any altered limit established ((~~as hereinbefore authorized shall be~~)) under this section is effective when appropriate signs giving notice thereof are erected. Such maximum speed limit may be declared to be effective at all times or at such times as are indicated upon such signs; and differing limits may be established for different times of day, different types of vehicles, varying weather conditions, and other factors bearing on safe speeds, which shall be effective when posted upon appropriate fixed or variable signs.

(5) Any alteration of maximum limits on state highways within incorporated cities or towns by local authorities shall not be effective until such alteration has been approved by the secretary of transportation.

Sec. 4. Section 46.48.026, chapter 12, Laws of 1961 and RCW 46.61.465 are each amended to read as follows:

The unlawful operation of a vehicle in excess of the maximum lawful speeds provided in this chapter at the point of operation and under the circumstances described ((~~shall be~~)), other than a violation of RCW 46.61.400(2), is prima facie evidence of the operation of a motor vehicle in a reckless manner by the operator thereof.