Bill > H3128

This bill aims to improve road safety and public health by implementing several measures. It defines "functionally classified" roadways according to Federal Highway Administration guidelines and modifies speed limits, specifically reducing the speed limit on functionally classified local roads to 25 miles per hour if exceeding one-eighth of a mile. The bill also allows cities and towns to establish "senior citizen safety zones" and "recreational safety zones" around facilities like senior housing, hospitals, parks, and playgrounds, with reduced speed limits of 20 miles per hour or lower, similar to school zones. Furthermore, it prohibits the use of mobile telephones by motor vehicle operators on public ways and requires the Department of Public Health to study the health effects of particulate air pollution from surface transportation, particularly fine and ultrafine particulate matter, on populations near major roadways and rail lines, with a focus on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The Department of Environmental Protection will also develop regulations and exposure standards for these types of particulate matter and a plan for monitoring them to identify areas of greatest health risk. Finally, the bill slightly reduces the time limit for certain vehicle idling periods from five minutes to three minutes.