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PRINTER'S NO. 418
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
419
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY SCAVELLO, BROWNE, MENSCH, BARTOLOTTA, COLLETT,
MARTIN, MUTH, STEFANO, AUMENT, TARTAGLIONE, BAKER, KEARNEY,
L. WILLIAMS, GORDNER AND PITTMAN, MARCH 12, 2021
REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION, MARCH 12, 2021
AN ACT
Amending Title 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
Statutes, in rules of the road in general, further providing
for speed timing devices.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 3368(c), (d), (e) and (f)(2) of Title 75
of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended and the
section is amended by adding subsections to read:
§ 3368. Speed timing devices.
* * *
(c) Mechanical, electrical and electronic devices
authorized.--
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the
rate of speed of any vehicle may be timed on any highway by a
police officer using a mechanical or electrical speed timing
device.
(2) [Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (3),
electronic devices such as radio-microwave devices, commonly
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referred to as electronic speed meters or radar, may be used
only as part of an automated speed enforcement system or by
members of the Pennsylvania State Police.] Electronic devices
such as radio-microwave devices, commonly referred to as
electronic speed meters or radar, may be used only as part of
an automated speed enforcement system or by any police
officer.
(3) Electronic devices which calculate speed by
measuring elapsed time between measured road surface points
by using two sensors and devices which measure and calculate
the average speed of a vehicle between any two points may be
used by any police officer.
(4) [No person may be convicted upon evidence obtained
through the use of devices authorized by paragraphs (2) and
(3) unless the speed recorded is six or more miles per hour
in excess of the legal speed limit. Furthermore, no person
may be convicted upon evidence obtained through the use of
devices authorized by paragraph (3) in an area where the
legal speed limit is less than 55 miles per hour if the speed
recorded is less than ten miles per hour in excess of the
legal speed limit. This paragraph shall not apply to evidence
obtained through the use of devices authorized by paragraph
(2) or (3) within a school zone or an active work zone.] A
person may not be convicted upon evidence obtained through
the use of devices authorized by paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and
(5) unless the speed recorded is more than 10 miles per hour
in excess of the legal speed limit on a highway or six or
more miles per hour in excess of the legal speed limit on an
interstate highway or freeway with a posted speed limit of 70
miles per hour. This paragraph shall not apply to evidence
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obtained through the use of devices authorized by paragraphs
(1), (2), (3) or (5) within a school zone or an active work
zone.
(5) Light detection and ranging devices, commonly
referred to as LIDAR, may be used only as part of an
automated speed enforcement system or by [members of the
Pennsylvania State Police] any police officer.
(6) Except for a member of the Pennsylvania State
Police, prior to use of an electronic speed meter, radar or
light detection and ranging devices:
(i) a police officer must complete a training course
approved by the Pennsylvania State Police and the
Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training
Commission; and
(ii) in accordance with department regulations,
official traffic-control devices, including advanced
warning signs indicating the use of electronic speed
meters, radar or light detection and ranging devices,
must be erected within 500 feet of the border of the
political subdivision on the main arteries entering the
political subdivision.
(7) A police officer of the Delaware River Port
Authority or the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission
may, on a highway under the jurisdiction of the Delaware
River Port Authority or the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge
Commission, use an electronic speed meter, radar or a light
detection and ranging device upon completion of a training
course approved by the Pennsylvania State Police and the
Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission.
(d) Classification, approval and testing of mechanical,
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electrical and electronic devices.--The department may, by
regulation, classify specific devices as being mechanical,
electrical or electronic. All mechanical, electrical or
electronic devices shall be of a type approved by the
department, which shall appoint stations for calibrating and
testing the devices and may prescribe regulations as to the
manner in which calibrations and tests shall be made. The
certification and calibration of electronic devices under
subsection (c)(3) shall also include the certification and
calibration of all equipment, timing strips and other devices
which are actually used with the particular electronic device
being certified and calibrated. Electronic devices commonly
referred to as electronic speed meters or radar shall have been
tested for accuracy within a period of one year prior to the
alleged violation. Other devices shall have been tested for
accuracy within a period of 60 days prior to the alleged
violation. A certificate from the station showing that the
calibration and test were made within the required period and
that the device was accurate shall be competent and prima facie
evidence of those facts in every proceeding in which a violation
of this title is charged. A device under subsection (c)(6) must
be calibrated and tested every 365 days at a minimum before
being used.
(e) Distance requirements for use of mechanical, electrical
and electronic devices.--Mechanical, electrical or electronic
devices or light detection and ranging devices may not be used
to time the rate of speed of vehicles within 500 feet after a
speed limit sign indicating a decrease of speed. This limitation
on the use of speed timing devices shall not apply to speed
limit signs indicating school zones, bridge and elevated
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structure speed limits, hazardous grade speed limits and work
zone speed limits.
(f) LIDAR testing and calibration.--
* * *
(2) LIDAR speed measuring devices and LIDAR systems
shall be calibrated and tested every 365 days at a minimum
before being utilized by [the Pennsylvania State Police] any
police officer or as part of an automated speed enforcement
system.
* * *
(g) Local ordinance required to enforce.--
(1) Prior to the use of a device under subsection (c)
(6), the political subdivision or each political subdivision
of a regional police department must adopt an ordinance
authorizing the local or regional police department to employ
the device on highways within the boundaries of each
political subdivision.
(2) During the initial 90 days of speed enforcement by a
local or regional police department of a political
subdivision, an individual may only be sanctioned for
violations with a written warning.
(3) A device under subsection (c)(6) may not be used to
time the rate of speed of vehicles within 500 feet after a
speed limit sign indicating a decrease of speed. This
limitation on the use of a device shall not apply to a speed
limit sign indicating a school zone, bridge and elevated
structure speed limit, hazardous grade speed limit and work
zone speed limit.
(h) Excess revenue.--
(1) The primary use of a device under this section shall
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be for traffic safety purposes.
(2) If a political subdivision's share of revenue
generated from speed enforcement citations by a device under
this section exceeds 10% of the total political subdivision's
budget, the excess sum shall be remitted to the Department of
Revenue on a form and in a manner prescribed by the
Department of Revenue on or before the 60th day following the
end of the political subdivision's fiscal year for deposit
into the Highway Safety Cadet Training Restricted Receipts
Fund, which is established in the General Fund for the
purpose of recruiting, training or equipping Pennsylvania
State Police Cadets.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 180 days.
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