(a) No person shall operate a motor vehicle at a speed greater or less than is reasonable or proper, having due regard to the traffic, surface and width of the street or highway and any other conditions, and no person shall drive any motor vehicle in and upon any street or highway at a greater speed than will permit the person to bring it to a stop within the assured clear distance ahead.
(b) It is prima-facie lawful, in the absence of a lower limit declared or established pursuant to Ohio R.C. 4511.21 by the Ohio Director of Transportation or Council, for the operator of a motor vehicle to operate the same at a speed not exceeding the following: (A.O.)
(1) A. Consistent with Ohio R.C. 4511.21(B)(2), and consistent with the general parameters of Ohio R.C. 4511.21(B), Council does hereby establish a uniform speed limit throughout the Village of Golf Manor at twenty-five (25) miles per hour. The only exception to this shall be a lower speed limit within designated school districts as required by law.
B. Upon enactment of this section, appropriate signs shall be erected throughout the Village establishing and confirming this speed limit.
(Ord. 2017-14. Passed 11-27-17.)
(2) A. Twenty miles per hour in school zones during school recess and while children are going to or leaving school during the opening or closing hours, and when twenty miles per hour school speed limit signs are erected; except, that on controlled-access highways and expressways, if the right-of-way line fence has been erected without pedestrian opening, the speed shall be governed by subsection (b)(4) hereof and on freeways, if the right-of-way line fence has been erected without pedestrian opening, the speed shall be governed by
subsection (b)(7) hereof. The end of every school zone may be marked by a sign indicating the end of the zone. Nothing in this section or in the manual and specifications for a uniform system of traffic control devices shall be construed to require school zones to be indicated by signs equipped with flashing or other lights, or giving other special notice of the hours in which the school zone speed limit is in effect.
B. As used in this section, “school” means all of the following:
1. Any school chartered under Ohio R.C. 3301.16;
2. Any nonchartered school that during the preceding year filed with the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce in compliance with O.A.C. § 3301-35-08, a copy of the school’s report for the parents of the school’s pupils certifying that the school meets state minimum standards for nonchartered, nontax-supported schools and presents evidence of this filing to the jurisdiction from which it is requesting the establishment of a school zone;
3. Any special elementary school that in writing requests the County Engineer to create a school zone at the location of the school. Upon receipt of such written request, the County Engineer shall create a school zone at that location by erecting appropriate signs;
4. Any preschool education program operated by an educational service center that is located on a street or highway with a speed limit of forty-five miles per hour or more, when the educational service center in writing requests that the County Engineer create a school zone at the location of that program. Upon receipt of such a written request, the County Engineer shall create a school zone at that location by erecting the appropriate signs.
C. As used in this section, "school zone" means that portion of a street or highway passing a school fronting upon the street or highway that is encompassed by projecting the school property lines to the fronting street or highway. Upon request from the Municipality for streets and highways under its jurisdiction, the Ohio Director of Transportation may extend the traditional school zone boundaries. The distances in subsections (b)(1)C.1. to 3. hereof shall not exceed 300 feet per approach per direction and are bounded by whichever of the following distances or combinations thereof the Director approves as most appropriate:
1. The distance encompassed by projecting the school building lines normal to the fronting highway and extending a distance of 300 feet on each approach direction;
2. The distance encompassed by projecting the school property lines intersecting the fronting highway and extending a distance of 300 feet on each approach direction;
3. The distance encompassed by the special marking of the pavement for a principal school pupil crosswalk plus a distance of 300 feet on each approach direction of highway;
Nothing in this section shall be construed to invalidate the Director's initial action on August 9, 1976, establishing all school zones at the traditional school zone boundaries defined by projecting school property lines, except when those boundaries are extended as provided in subsections (b)(1)A. and C. hereof.
D. As used in this subsection, "crosswalk" has the meaning given that term in Section 301.09. The Director may, upon request by resolution of Council, and upon submission by the Municipality of such engineering, traffic and other information as the Director considers necessary, designate a school zone on any portion of a State route lying within the Municipality that includes a crosswalk customarily used by children going to or leaving a school during recess and opening and closing hours, whenever the distance, as measured in a straight line, from the school property line nearest the crosswalk to the nearest point of the crosswalk is no more than 1,320 feet. Such a school zone shall include the distance encompassed by the crosswalk and extending 300 feet on each approach direction of the State route;
(c) It is prima-facie unlawful for any person to exceed any of the speed limitations in subsection (b) hereof, or any declared or established pursuant to this section by the Director or local authorities.
(d) In every charge of violation of this section the affidavit and warrant shall specify the time, place and speed at which the defendant is alleged to have driven, and in charges made in reliance upon subsection (c) hereof also the speed which subsections (b) hereof, or a limit declared or established pursuant to this section declares is prima-facie lawful at the time and place of such alleged violation, except that in affidavits where a person is alleged to have driven at a greater speed than will permit the person to bring the vehicle to a stop within the assured clear distance ahead the affidavit and warrant need not specify the speed at which the defendant is alleged to have driven.
(e) Whenever, in accordance with Ohio R.C. 4511.21 or this section, the speed limitations as established herein have been altered, either higher or lower, and the appropriate signs giving notice have been erected as required, operators of motor vehicles shall be governed by the speed limitations set forth on such signs. It is prima-facie unlawful for any person to exceed the speed limits posted upon such signs.
(f) (1) A violation of any provision of this section is one of the following:
A. Except as otherwise provided in subsections (j)(1)B., (1)C., (2) and (3) of this section, a minor misdemeanor;
B. If, within one year of the offense, the offender previously has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to two violations of any provision of this section or of any provision of Ohio R.C. 4511.21 or a municipal ordinance that is substantially similar to any provision of this section, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree;
C. If, within one year of the offense, the offender previously has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to three or more violations of any provision of this section or of any provision of Ohio R.C. 4511.21 or a municipal ordinance that is substantially similar to any provision of this section, a misdemeanor of the third degree.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (j)(1) of this section, if the offender operated a motor vehicle in a construction zone where a sign was then posted in accordance with Ohio R.C. 4511.98, the court, in addition to all other penalties provided by law, shall impose upon the offender a fine of two times the usual amount imposed for the violation. No court shall impose a fine of two times the usual amount imposed for the violation upon an offender if the offender alleges, in an affidavit filed with the court prior to the offender’s sentencing, that the offender is indigent and is unable to pay the fine imposed pursuant to this subsection and if the court determines that the offender is an indigent person and unable to pay the fine.
If the offender commits the offense while distracted and the distracting activity is a contributing factor to the commission of the offense, the offender is subject to the additional fine established under Section 303.991 of the Traffic Code.
(ORC 4511.21)