Speed limits

It is Chapter V of Act 22-2000 in its speed part: the basic rule of driving with proper control, the maximum limits by zone and vehicle type, the four fine ladders, the prohibition on driving too slowly, and what the ticket must say.

It applies to anyone driving a motor vehicle on Puerto Rico’s public roads. Which limit applies to you depends on the zone — urban, rural, school, expressway, work zone — and on the vehicle: heavy motor vehicles, public or private buses and school transport always travel ten miles per hour below what is permitted in any zone, except in school zones where their maximum is fifteen.

• Driving at a speed that allows proper control of the vehicle, taking into account the road’s width, traffic, use and conditions, and slowing or stopping when necessary to avoid an accident (Article 5.01). That rule applies even where you are under the posted limit.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: The basic rule governs even under the sign

   Article 5.01 says speed shall be regulated at all times with due care, taking into account the road’s width, traffic, use and conditions, and that “no one shall drive at a speed greater than allows proper control of the vehicle, and shall reduce speed or stop when necessary to avoid an accident”. And it names where you must slow without any sign: on approaching and crossing an intersection or railway crossing, on approaching the crest of a slope, travelling a narrow or winding road, where there are special dangers regarding pedestrians or other traffic, or by reason of the weather or the road’s conditions.

2. 2

   Step 2: Twenty-five urban, forty-five rural

   Article 5.02(a) sets twenty-five miles per hour in the urban zone, “except on roads with a total of four or more lanes, where the Secretary may set a maximum of thirty-five (35) miles per hour”. Subsection (b) sets forty-five in the rural zone, “except on those highways where the Secretary determines the maximum speed may be up to fifty-five (55) miles per hour”. And subsection (e) puts expressway speed at sixty-five miles per hour “in areas meeting the current criteria of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)”. We did not read those criteria.

3. 3

   Step 3: The school zone has hours and days

   Article 5.02(c) sets fifteen miles per hour in a school zone in an urban zone and twenty-five in a rural one, “as identified by the corresponding authority, from six in the morning (6:00 A.M.) to seven in the evening (7:00 P.M.) on school days or other hours or periods signalled or identified by fixed-message signs, variable-message signs, flashing amber lights or other traffic control devices or a combination of these”. That is: the school limit does not apply around the clock by default, but in those hours and on school days, or when the devices signal it.

4. 4

   Step 4: Ten miles less in a heavy vehicle, bus or school transport

   Article 5.02(f) is a rule that sits on top of all the others: “The maximum speed for any heavy motor vehicle, public or private bus, or school transport shall always be ten (10) miles per hour less than that permitted in any zone, except in school zones where the maximum speed shall be fifteen (15) miles per hour”. And subsection (d) goes lower still for anyone carrying hazardous materials: thirty miles per hour in a rural zone and fifteen in an urban one. What counts as hazardous material is defined by Commission regulation under Act No. 109 of 1962, which we did not read.

5. 5

   Step 5: A hundred dollars plus ten per mile

   Article 5.02(g)(1) sets the ordinary fine: an administrative offence “with a basic fine of one hundred (100) dollars, plus ten (10) additional dollars for each mile per hour driven over the maximum speed limit permitted in that zone or period”. That is, twenty miles over is a hundred plus two hundred. And subsection (g)(2) sets a figure of another order: a fine of one thousand dollars “where the speed the vehicle is travelling at is one hundred (100) miles per hour or more”.

6. 6

   Step 6: School zone and work zone: two separate ladders

   Article 5.02(h) raises the base to two hundred dollars plus ten for each additional mile where the school zone “has been specially marked with the required devices, such as, but not limited to, traffic lights, reflectors, paint and signage”. And it adds the serious tier: “Where as a consequence of violating this provision a vehicle collision or any type of bodily harm to a person is caused, it shall be considered a misdemeanour” with up to six months’ imprisonment, a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than five thousand dollars, or both at the court’s discretion. Subsection (j) puts the base at one hundred and fifty dollars plus ten per mile in an area “where there is notice that workers are carrying out construction, maintenance or improvement work on the public roads”.

7. 7

   Step 7: Heavy vehicles and buses: up to losing the licence for life

   Article 5.02(i), amended by Act 100-2022, has its own ladder for anyone driving a heavy motor vehicle, public bus or school transport over the permitted maximum. For the first offence, a fine of not less than two hundred and fifty nor more than five hundred dollars and suspension of the driving licence for one month. For the second, a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand and suspension for six months. For the third, a fine of not less than one thousand nor more than five thousand “and suspension of the driving licence for life”.

8. 8

   Step 8: Driving too slowly is fined too

   Article 5.03 is the half almost nobody knows. Subsection (a) makes it illegal to drive “at a speed more than twenty (20) miles below the maximum speed limit set on the public road”, excepting where the reduced speed is necessary for safe driving, on a slope, or for a heavy vehicle travelling slowly by necessity or in compliance with law: one hundred dollars. Subsection (b) lets the Secretary or local authorities declare a minimum limit where a traffic engineering study finds reduced speeds consistently impede normal and reasonable traffic movement: one hundred dollars. And subsection (c), the dearest of the three: on roads with two or more lanes in the same direction “it shall be illegal to travel in the left lane at a speed below the maximum speed limit set”, unless the reduced speed is necessary for justifiable reasons for safe driving: two hundred dollars.

9. 9

   Step 9: What the ticket must say, and the radar

   Article 5.05 is the driver’s lever. In every charge of a speed violation, the ticket issued “must specify the speed the person is alleged to have been driving at, the maximum speed permitted within the district or in the zone in question, the name and badge number of the Police or Municipal Police member who stopped them, and the provision of this Act violated”. And it adds: “That law-enforcement officer shall always indicate where the nearest sign showing the maximum speed limit is located”. The second paragraph is the most useful: any Police or Municipal Police member using an electronic method to determine speed “shall be obliged to show every person stopped for an alleged violation of this Article the reading produced using that method”.

10. 10

    Step 10: When the limit changes, and how far

    Article 5.04 lets the Secretary, on a traffic engineering study, determine and declare by regulation a safe and reasonable maximum limit where any of the Act’s limits turns out higher or lower than reasonable for existing conditions; it takes effect once appropriate signs are installed at the site, and different limits may be set for different hours, vehicle types and weather conditions. But it closes with a ceiling: “the maximum limits the Secretary sets may never exceed those established in this Act”.

There is no procedure: these are rules of conduct on the public road. The stop is made by the Police of Puerto Rico or the Municipal Police, and the ticket is handled through the ordinary traffic-ticket review route. Zone limits are declared by the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works by regulation, and take effect only once the appropriate signs are installed.

• Believing being under the sign is always lawful: Article 5.01 requires proper control given the road’s width, traffic, use and conditions.
• Thinking the urban zone is always thirty-five: it is twenty-five, and thirty-five only where the Secretary sets it on roads of four or more lanes.
• Assuming the school zone applies around the clock: it is six in the morning to seven in the evening on school days, or when the devices signal it.
• Forgetting the ten miles less: they always apply to heavy vehicles, public or private buses and school transport.
• Calculating the fine as a fixed figure: it is a hundred dollars plus ten for each mile over.
• Not knowing that at a hundred miles per hour the fine jumps to a thousand dollars.
• Speeding in a marked school zone: the base is two hundred, and if it causes a collision or bodily harm it becomes a misdemeanour with up to six months in jail.
• Ignoring work zones: the base there is one hundred and fifty dollars plus ten per mile.
• Believing driving slowly is never fined: twenty miles below the maximum is a hundred dollars.
• Sitting in the left lane below the limit: that is two hundred dollars.
• Paying without reading the ticket: it must state the alleged speed, the zone maximum, the officer’s name and badge number and the provision violated.
• Not asking for the radar reading: an officer using an electronic method is obliged to show it to you.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP)

  DTOP

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov