(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 him or her to bring it to a stop within the assured clear distance ahead.
(A.O.)
(b) It is prima-facie lawful, in the absence of a lower limit declared by the Ohio Director of Transportation or local authority, pursuant to Ohio R.C. 4511.21 or subsections (e) through (g) hereof, for the operator of a motor vehicle to operate the same at a speed not exceeding the following:
(Ord. 2008-117. Passed 9-9-08.)
(1) 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. 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 any school chartered under Ohio R.C. 3301.16 and any nonchartered school that during the preceding year filed with the Ohio Department of Education, in compliance with Rule 3301-35-08 of the Ohio Administrative Code, a copy of the school's report for the parents of the school's pupils certifying that the school meets Ohio 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.
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, and also includes that portion of a State highway. Upon request from local authorities for streets and highways under their jurisdiction and that portion of a State highway under the jurisdiction of the Ohio Director of Transportation, the Director may extend the traditional school zone boundaries. The distances in paragraphs (b)(2)C.1. and 2. 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; or
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 the 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 this paragraph.
(2) Thirty-five miles per hour in all other portions of the Municipality, except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b)(3) hereof; (A.O.)
(3) Forty miles per hour on State Route 87 (South Woodland Road), for that portion of the road which is east of its intersection with Chagrin River Road, and on State Route 91 (SOM Center Road).
(4) Forty-five miles per hour on State Route 87 (South Woodland Road) for that portion of the road which is west of its intersection with Chagrin River Road.
(Ord. 2008-117. Passed 9-9-08.)
(Ord. 2008-117. Passed 9-9-08.)
(c) It is prima-facie unlawful for any person to exceed any of the speed limitations in paragraphs (b)(1) through (b)(3) hereof or any declared pursuant to subsections (e) through (g) hereof or Ohio R.C. 4511.21 by the Ohio Director of Transportation or local authority. No person shall be convicted of more than one violation of this section for the same conduct, although violations of more than one provision of this section may be charged in the alternative in a single affidavit.
(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, the speed which is prima-facie lawful at the time and place of such alleged violation, as the same is set forth in paragraphs (b)(1) through (b)(3) hereof or declared pursuant to subsections (h) through (j) hereof or Ohio R.C. 4511.21, 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 the Ohio Director of Transportation determines, upon the basis of a geometric and traffic characteristic study, that any speed limit set forth in subsections (b) through (d) hereof is greater than is reasonable or safe under the conditions found to exist at any portion of a street or highway under the jurisdiction of the Director, the Director shall determine and declare a reasonable and safe prima-facie speed limit, which shall be effective when appropriate signs giving notice of it are erected at the location.
(f) Whenever Council determines, upon the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation, that the speed permitted by subsections (b) and (c) hereof, on any part of a highway under its jurisdiction, is greater than is reasonable and safe under the conditions found to exist at such location, Council may, by resolution, request the Director to determine and declare a reasonable and safe prima-facie speed limit. Upon receipt of such request, the Director may determine and declare a reasonable and safe prima-facie speed limit at such location, and if the Director does so, then such declared speed limit shall become effective only when appropriate signs giving notice thereof are erected at such location by the Municipality. The Director may withdraw his or her declaration of any prima-facie speed limit whenever in his or her opinion any altered prima-facie speed becomes unreasonable, and upon such withdrawal, the declared prima-facie speed shall become ineffective and the signs relating thereto shall be immediately removed by the Municipality.
(g) Council may authorize by ordinance higher prima-facie speeds than those stated in this section upon through highways, or upon highways or portions thereof where there are no intersections, or between widely spaced intersections, provided that signs are erected giving notice of the authorized speed, but Council shall not modify or alter the basic rule set forth in subsection (a) hereof or in any event authorize by ordinance a speed in excess of fifty miles per hour.
Alteration of prima-facie limits on State routes by Council shall not be effective until the alteration has been approved by the Director. The Director may withdraw approval of any altered prima-facie speed limits whenever in the Director's opinion any altered prima-facie speed becomes unreasonable, and upon such withdrawal, the altered prima-facie speed shall become ineffective and the signs relating thereto shall be immediately removed by the Municipality.