(a)  No person shall drive a vehicle over any bridge or other elevated structure constituting a part of a highway at a speed which is greater than the maximum speed which can be maintained with safety to the bridge or structure, when the structure is signposted as provided in this section.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 31-14-12

  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.

(b)  The state traffic commission upon request from any local authority shall, or upon its own initiative may, conduct an investigation of any bridge or other elevated structure constituting a part of a highway. If it shall find that the structure cannot with safety to itself withstand vehicles traveling at the speed otherwise permissible under this chapter, the commission shall determine and declare the maximum speed of vehicles which the structure can withstand, and shall cause or permit suitable signs stating the maximum speed to be erected and maintained at a distance of one hundred feet (100?) before each end of the structure.

(c)  Upon the trial of any person charged with a violation of this section, proof of the determination of the maximum speed by the commission and the existence of the signs shall constitute conclusive evidence of the maximum speed which can be maintained with safety to the bridge or structure.

(d)  Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.

History of Section.
P.L. 1950, ch. 2595, art. 25, § 6; G.L. 1956, § 31-14-12; P.L. 2002, ch. 292, § 109.