Senate Bill No. 293

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________

A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act prohibiting leaving highway construction vehicles, materials, or equipment unattended within the highway recovery zone; defining "recovery zone" and other related terms; and providing a penalty."

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:

NEW SECTION. Section 1.  Encroachment of highway construction vehicles and materials into recovery zone prohibited -- definitions. (1) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(a) "Clear runout area" means an area at the toe of a nonrecoverable slope that is available for safe use by an errant vehicle.

(b) "Nonrecoverable slope" means a slope that is considered traversable, but on which an errant vehicle will continue on to the bottom.

(c) "Recoverable slope" means a slope on which a motorist may retain or regain control of a vehicle.

(d) "Recovery zone" means the area from the highway center line through the total roadside border area that is available for safe use by an errant vehicle. This may consist of a shoulder, a recoverable slope, a nonrecoverable slope, or a clear runout area. The width of a recovery zone is dependent on traffic volumes, speeds, and roadside geometry.

(2) A person participating in a highway project involving construction, as defined in 60-1-103, may not leave any vehicles, materials, or equipment unattended within a recovery zone.

(3) A person or contracting company found violating subsection (2) shall be fined $5,000 for each day that the vehicles, materials, or equipment remains within the recovery zone.

(4) A person or contracting company whose violation of subsection (2) results in injury or loss of life may not participate in future highway construction projects in the state of Montana.

NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Codification instruction. [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 60, chapter 6, part 1, and the provisions of Title 60, chapter 6, part 1, apply to [section 1].

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