(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 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:
(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 a sign giving notice of the existence of the school is erected as provided in this section; 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. 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 Department of Education 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 1101.09. 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;
(2) Twenty-five miles per hour in all other portions of the Municipality, except on State routes outside business districts, through highways outside business districts and alleys;
(3) Thirty-five miles per hour on all State routes or through highways within the Municipality outside business districts;
(4) Fifteen miles per hour on all alleys within the Municipality.
(c) It is prima-facie unlawful for any person to exceed any of the speed limitations in subsection (b)(1)A. to (b)(4) hereof, or any declared pursuant to this section by the Director or local authorities and it is unlawful for any person to exceed the speed limitation in subsection (d) hereof. 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) No person shall operate a motor vehicle upon the streets or highways at a speed exceeding fifty-five miles per hour.
(e) 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)(1)A. to (b)(4) 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 him 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.
(f) When a speed in excess of both a prima-facie limitation and the limitation in subsection (d) hereof is alleged, the defendant shall be charged in a single affidavit, alleging a single act, with a violation indicated of both subsections (b)(1)A. to (b)(4) hereof, or of a limit declared or established pursuant to this section by the Director or local authorities, and of subsection (d) hereof. If the court finds a violation of subsection (b)(1)A. to (b)(4) hereof, or a limit declared or established pursuant to this section has occurred, it shall enter a judgment of conviction under such subsection and dismiss the charge under subsection (d) hereof. If it finds no violation of subsections (b)(1)A. to (b)(4) hereof or a limit declared or established pursuant to this section, it shall then consider whether the evidence supports a conviction under subsection (d) hereof.
(g) Points shall be assessed for violation of a limitation under subsection (d) hereof in accordance with Ohio R.C. 4510.036.
(h) Whenever the Ohio Director of Transportation determines upon the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation that any speed limit set forth in subsections (b)(1)A. to (d) hereof is greater than is reasonable or safe under the conditions found to exist at any intersection or other place upon any part of a State route, the Director shall determine and declare a reasonable and safe prima-facie speed limit, which shall be effective when appropriate signs giving notice are erected at the intersection or other part of the State route.
(i) Whenever Council determines upon the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation that the speed permitted by subsections (b)(1)A. to (d) hereof, on any part of a highway under their 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 declaration of any prima-facie speed limit whenever in his 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.
(j) 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 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 his approval of any altered prima-facie speed limits whenever in his 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.
(ORC 4511.21)
(k) 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.