89R10661 AND-D
By: Goodwin H.B. No. 5300
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a project to identify and address high injury road
segments and the designation of highway safety corridors;
increasing a fine.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as the Dr. Michael James
Babineaux Act.
SECTION 2. Subchapter H, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 201.6014 to read as follows:
Sec. 201.6014. HIGH INJURY NETWORK PROJECT. (a) In this
section:
(1) "High injury network project" means the project
developed by the institute under this section.
(2) "Institute" means the Texas A&M Transportation
Institute.
(3) "Intervention strategy" means a department plan to
reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries in a certain public
roadway segment.
(4) "Political subdivision" means a municipality or
county.
(5) "Safety action plan" means a plan prepared for the
Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program.
(b) Subject to the availability of funds, the institute
shall develop and maintain a high injury network project that
includes an interactive map and data that allows ranking of all
public roadway segments in the state according to the estimated
total cost of traffic crashes for each roadway segment during the
preceding five years, accounting for personal injuries, personal
property damage, and cost of repairs to the roadway. The institute
shall update the project's map and rankings at least once every five
years.
(c) The department shall annually develop an intervention
strategy for:
(1) the two highest ranking roadway segments in a
rural district on the high injury network project;
(2) the two highest ranking roadway segments in an
urban district on the high injury network project; and
(3) each of the 10 highest ranking roadway segments in
any district on the high injury network project that are not
described by Subdivisions (1) and (2).
(d) The department may partner with a political subdivision
to implement, on its own initiative or in collaboration with any
governmental unit, for a roadway segment among the 100 highest
ranking roadway segments on the high injury network project:
(1) adaptive signal timing, signal preemption for
emergency vehicles, wrong-way driving alerts, intelligent
transportation systems, vehicle-to-infrastructure technology, or
traffic demand management;
(2) highway safety corridors or variable speed limits;
(3) interim or innovative design improvements,
including temporary improvements that do not involve permanent
roadway reconstruction, including painting, plastic delineator
posts, water-filled plastic barriers, planters, traffic cones,
raised line separators, and temporary speed humps/bumps that may be
used to right-size roadways, create curb extensions, shorten
crosswalk distances, create roundabouts, establish bike lanes, and
implement other safety countermeasures that slow speeds and make
roads safer for multiple road user types;
(4) upgrades to any portion of a right-of-way to
optimize safe travel by any mode of transportation, including
reducing the portion of a right-of-way dedicated to single occupant
vehicle lanes if the department determines through an engineering
and traffic investigation that an updated design will be an
effective way to reduce deaths and serious injuries on one of the
100 highest ranking roadways identified in the high injury network
plan; or
(5) any proven safety measure, including any measure
listed in the Texas Strategic Highway Safety Plan, the Federal
Highway Administration's Proven Safety Countermeasures initiative
as it existed on May 1, 2025, or Proven Safety Countermeasures in
Rural Communities publication as the publication existed on May 1,
2025, or a local or regional safety action plan if the roadway
segment is within the area covered by the safety action plan.
(e) Notwithstanding any other law, a safety measure under
Subsection (d)(1) or (5) may be implemented with no requirement for
environmental process, public input opportunity, engineering and
traffic investigation, or any other administrative procedure.
(f) The department may not implement a safety measure under
Subsection (d)(2), (3), or (4) before a simple majority vote in
support of implementing the measure on that roadway segment or a
broader area by:
(1) the governing body of the municipality in which
the roadway segment is located; or
(2) the commissioners court of the county in which the
roadway segment is located, if the roadway segment is in an
unincorporated area.
(g) This subsection applies only to an on-system roadway
segment that is not a controlled access highway and has been listed
as one of the 100 highest ranking roadway segments under the high
injury network project for three or more years and for which total
deaths and serious injuries have not decreased by an average of at
least three percent per year. A municipality in which a roadway
segment to which this subsection applies is located or a county in
which a roadway segment to which this subsection applies is located
if in an unincorporated area may request that:
(1) the department address the safety problems in a
manner consistent with department plans and guidelines, the
political subdivision's design manuals, local or regional safety
action plans that include the roadway segment, and other local
transportation plans that include the roadway segment; or
(2) the department transfer ownership, operations, or
maintenance responsibility for the roadway segment to the political
subdivision.
(h) If the department determines that a measure requested
under Subsection (g)(1) is warranted through an engineering and
traffic investigation, the department may implement the measure
following a majority vote of:
(1) the governing body of a municipality; or
(2) the commissioners court of a county if the roadway
segment is in an unincorporated area.
(i) The department may, at the request of a political
subdivision under Subsection (g)(2), transfer ownership,
operations, or maintenance responsibility of a roadway segment to
the political subdivision to allow for the political subdivision to
address the safety issues on the roadway.
(j) The commission shall adopt rules as necessary to
administer this section.
(k) This section may not be construed to limit existing
department practices for making roadways safer.
SECTION 3. Subchapter K, Chapter 201, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 201.9051 to read as follows:
Sec. 201.9051. HIGHWAY SAFETY CORRIDOR. (a) In this
section, "political subdivision" means a municipality or county.
(b) The department may designate as a highway safety
corridor a portion of a roadway if the roadway segment is one of the
100 highest ranking roadway segments in the high injury network
project under Section 201.6014, and the governing body of the
political subdivision identified under Section 201.6014(f) has
approved the designation.
(c) The department shall remove a highway safety corridor
designation made under Subsection (b) on the 10th anniversary of
the designation unless the governing body of the political
subdivision that approved the designation notifies the department
that the designation should be removed before that date or extended
after that date. Each designation extension made under this
subsection must be for a period of 10 years unless a shorter period
is requested by the governing body and may be removed or extended as
provided by this subsection for an initial designation.
(d) The department may:
(1) designate as a highway safety corridor a portion
of a roadway containing a site with a high number of traffic
collisions that lead to a serious injury or fatality as identified
by the department; and
(2) at the department's discretion, remove a
designation made under this subsection.
(e) The department shall erect a sign at each end of a
designated portion of a roadway and at appropriate intermediate
sites along the roadway:
(1) indicating that the roadway is a highway safety
corridor; and
(2) stating "Fines double: highway safety corridor."
(f) The department by rule may prescribe forms for use by a
political subdivision for the designation of a highway safety
corridor under Subsection (b) and the removal or extension of a
highway safety corridor designation under Subsection (c).
(g) The department may distribute literature to the public
concerning highway safety corridors designated under this section.
SECTION 4. Subchapter D, Chapter 542, Transportation Code,
is amended by adding Section 542.405 to read as follows:
Sec. 542.405. FINE FOR OFFENSE IN HIGHWAY SAFETY CORRIDOR.
(a) In this section, "highway safety corridor" means a portion of a
roadway designated under Section 201.9051.
(b) If an offense under this subtitle, other than an offense
under Chapter 548 or 552 or Section 545.412 or 545.413, is committed
in a highway safety corridor:
(1) the minimum fine applicable to the offense is
twice the minimum fine that would be applicable to the offense if it
were committed outside a highway safety corridor; and
(2) the maximum fine applicable to the offense is
twice the maximum fine that would be applicable to the offense if it
were committed outside a highway safety corridor.
SECTION 5. Section 545.353, Transportation Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (l) to read as follows:
(l) A speed limit established under the program established
under Subsection (k) may be set at any speed supported by an
engineering and traffic investigation if:
(1) the roadway segment is one of the 100 highest
ranking roadway segments under the high injury network project
established under Section 201.6014; and
(2) the department has determined a variable speed
limit may be an effective way to reduce deaths and serious injuries
on the roadway segment.
SECTION 6. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
covered by the law in effect immediately before the effective date
of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
was committed before that date.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2025.