Cardile Law

39:4-98 Rates of speed.

39:4-98. Rates of speed. Subject to the provisions of R.S.39:4-96 and R.S.39:4-97 and except in those instances where a lower speed is specified in this chapter, it shall be prima facie lawful for the driver of a vehicle to drive it at a speed not exceeding the following: 

a.Twenty-five miles per hour, when passing through a school zone during recess, when the presence of children is clearly visible from the roadway, or while children are going to or leaving school, during opening or closing hours;

b. (1) Twenty-five miles per hour in any business or residential district;

(2)Thirty-five miles per hour in any suburban business or residential district;

c.Fifty miles per hour in all other locations, except as otherwise provided in the "Sixty-Five MPH Speed Limit Implementation Act," pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1997, c.415 (C.39:4-98.3 et al.).

Whenever it shall be determined upon the basis of an engineering and traffic investigation that any speed hereinbefore set forth is greater or less than is reasonable or safe under the conditions found to exist at any intersection or other place or upon any part of a highway, the Commissioner of Transportation, with reference to State highways, may by regulation and municipal or county authorities, with reference to highways under their jurisdiction, may by ordinance, in the case of municipal authorities, or by ordinance or resolution, in the case of county authorities, subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Transportation, except as otherwise provided in R.S.39:4-8, designate a reasonable and safe speed limit thereat which, subject to the provisions of R.S.39:4-96 and R.S.39:4-97, shall be prima facie lawful at all times or at such times as may be determined, when appropriate signs giving notice thereof are erected at such intersection, or other place or part of the highway. Appropriate signs giving notice of the speed limits authorized under the provisions of paragraph (1) of subsection b. and subsection c. of this section may be erected if the commissioner or the municipal or county authorities, as the case may be, so determine they are necessary. Appropriate signs giving notice of the speed limits authorized under the provisions of subsection a. and paragraph (2) of subsection b. of this section shall be erected by the commissioner or the municipal or county authorities, as appropriate.

When designating reasonable and safe speed limits for a street under its jurisdiction pursuant to this subsection, as part of an engineering and traffic investigation, a municipality or county shall consider, but not be limited to, the following criteria: residential density; the presence, or lack, of sidewalks; the prevalence of entry and exit ways for business and commercial establishments; whether school children walk adjacent to the street on their way to and from school; and the proximity of recreational or park areas, schools, community residences, family day care homes, child care centers, assisted living facilities or senior communities. Nothing in this paragraph shall substitute for traffic count, accident, and speed sampling data as appropriate.

The driver of every vehicle shall, consistent with the requirements of this section, drive at an appropriate reduced speed when approaching and crossing an intersection or railway grade crossing, when approaching and going around a curve, when approaching a hill crest, when traveling upon any narrow or winding roadway, and when special hazard exists with respect to pedestrians or other traffic or by reason of weather or highway conditions.

The Commissioner of Transportation shall cause the erection and maintenance of signs at such points of entrance to the State as are deemed advisable, setting forth the lawful rates of speed, the wording of which shall be within his discretion.

Amended 1939, c.211; 1942, c.325,(1942, c.325 repealed 1946, c.8); 1951, c.23, s.55; 1983, c.227, s.2; 1993, c.315, s.2; 1997, c.415, s.1; 2009, c.258.

39:4-98.7. Speeding 20mph or more over limit; fines, certain; doubled

6.The fine for a motor vehicle offense shall be double the amount specified by law when traveling 20 miles per hour or more over the designated speed limit as set forth in R.S.39:4-98, except as provided in subsection b. of section 1 of P.L.1993, c.332 (C.39:4-203.5) and subsection a. of section 5 of P.L.1997, c.415 (C.39:4-98.6).

39:4-98.6. Certain fines doubled where speed limit is 65mph

5. a. The fine for a motor vehicle offense embodied in the following sections of statutory law, when committed in an area which has been designated as having a speed limit of 65 miles per hour, shall be double the amount specified by law:

R.S.39:4-52;

R.S.39:4-57;

R.S. 39:4-80;

R.S. 39:4-81;

R.S. 39:4-84;

R.S. 39:4-85;

R.S. 39:4-86;

R.S. 39:4-88;

R.S. 39:4-89;

R.S. 39:4-90;

R.S. 39:4-96;

R.S. 39:4-97;

R.S. 39:4-98, when guilty of driving at a speed that is 10 miles per hour or more over the established speed limit;

R.S. 39:4-126;

R.S. 39:4-127;

R.S. 39:4-129; 

R.S. 39:4-144;

P.L. 1955, c.217 (C.39:5C-1); 

Section 41 of P.L. 1951, c.23 (C.39:4-82.1); 

Section 51 of P.L. 1951, c.23 (C.39:4-90.1); 

Section 5 of P.L. 1951, c.264 (C.27:23-29);

Section 18 of P.L. 1952, c.16 (C.27:12B-18); and

Section 21 of P.L. 1991, c.252 (C.27:25A-21). 

b. (1) Signs designed in compliance with the specifications of the Department of Transportation or, if appropriate, the authority having jurisdiction over the appropriate highway, shall be appropriately placed, by order of the commissioner or the affected authority, as the case may be, to notify drivers approaching areas designated as having a speed limit of 65 miles per hour that the fines are doubled for motor vehicle offenses in those areas.

(2) In addition, all traffic control signs and devices erected or displayed by the State Department of Transportation or an authority within an area designated as having a speed limit of 65 miles per hour shall conform to the uniform system specified in the most current "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways, " prepared by the Federal Highway Administration in the United States Department of Transportation.

c. It shall not be a defense to the imposition of the fines authorized under the provisions of this act that a sign notifying drivers that fines are doubled was not posted, improperly posted, wrongfully removed or stolen, or that signs or devices were not placed in compliance with the most current "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways." 

d. The Director of Motor Vehicles in the Department of Transportation shall include information concerning the penalties imposed pursuant to this section in any subsequent revision of the New Jersey Driver Manual and the New Jersey Motorist Guide.


L.1997,c.415, s.5.