The proposed bill, known as the Dr. Michael James Babineaux Act, aims to enhance roadway safety in Texas by establishing a project to identify and address high injury road segments and designating highway safety corridors. It introduces a new section to the Transportation Code, Section 201.6014, which mandates the Texas A&M Transportation Institute to develop a high injury network project that includes an interactive map ranking public roadway segments based on the estimated costs of traffic crashes over the past five years. The Texas Department of Transportation is tasked with creating intervention strategies for the highest-ranking segments and may collaborate with local governments to implement various safety measures without the usual administrative procedures.

Additionally, the bill establishes a new section, 201.9051, allowing the designation of highway safety corridors for the top 100 high injury segments, which will be marked with signs indicating that fines for traffic offenses in these areas are doubled. It also introduces Section 542.405, which specifies that offenses committed in these corridors will incur increased fines. The bill further allows for variable speed limits on high injury segments based on engineering studies. The changes will take effect immediately upon receiving a two-thirds vote from the legislature or on September 1, 2025, if not.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: Transportation Code 545.353 (Transportation Code 545)