---
title: HB 809. Motor vehicles; minimum speed limit of 50 miles per hour on certain highways; provide
collection: bills
id: 2025-2026/hb809
cite_as: HB 809, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb809
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb809.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb809/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71505
date: 2026-02-20
status: introduced
corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13
license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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omitted: votes and history
omitted_chars: 199
omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb809.md?full=1
bill_number: HB 809
session: 2025-2026 Regular Session
session_slug: 2025-2026
chamber: House
bill_type: bill
status_date: 2025-03-20
last_action: House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute
sponsors:
- John Carson
- Bill Hitchens
- Alan Powell
- Brad Thomas
- Clint Crowe
- Eddie Lumsden
text_version: Comm Sub
has_text: true
legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HB809/2025
upstream_id: 2012218
summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5
topic_tags:
- speed limits
- traffic laws
- interstate highways
- Georgia Highway 400
- driving rules
---
# HB 809. Motor vehicles; minimum speed limit of 50 miles per hour on certain highways; provide
## Text
The House Committee on Motor Vehicles offers the following substitute to HB 809:
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Article 9 of Chapter 6 of Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated,
relating to speed restrictions, so as to provide for a minimum speed limit of 50 miles per hour
on certain highways; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; to repeal
conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
Article 9 of Chapter 6 of Title 40 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
speed restrictions, is amended by revising Code Section 40-6-184, relating to impeding
traffic flow, minimum speed limits, and slower driving in a passing lane, as follows:
"40-6-184.
(a) No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and
reasonable movement of traffic, except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation.
(b) Whenever the commissioner of public safety or the commissioner of transportation or
local authorities determine on the basis of any engineering and traffic investigation that
slow speeds on any part of a road under their respective jurisdictions impede the normal
and reasonable movement of traffic, such commissioners jointly, or such local authorities,
may determine and declare a minimum speed limit below which no person shall drive a
vehicle except when necessary for safe operation, and such limit shall be effective when
posted upon fixed or variable signs.
(c) On a controlled-access highway which is part of The Dwight D. Eisenhower System
of Interstate and Defense Highways or Georgia Highway 400 with a speed limit of 65 miles
per hour or greater, the minimum speed limit for such highway shall be 50 miles per hour.
(c)(d) Upon roads, streets, or highways with two or more lanes allowing for movement in
the same direction, no person shall continue to operate a motor vehicle in the passing lane
once such person knows or should reasonably know that he or she is being overtaken in
such lane from the rear by a motor vehicle traveling at a higher rate of speed. As used in
For purposes of this Code section, the term 'passing lane' means the most left-hand lane
other than a high occupancy vehicle lane.
(d)(e) Subsection (c) (d) of this Code section shall not apply:
(1) When traffic conditions or congestion make it necessary to drive in the passing lane;
(2) When inclement weather, obstructions, or hazards make it necessary to drive in the
passing lane;
(3) When compliance with a law of this state or with an official traffic control device
makes it necessary to drive in the passing lane;
(4) When a vehicle must be driven in the passing lane to exit or turn left;
(5) On toll highways, when necessary to pay a toll or use a pass;
(6) To authorized emergency vehicles engaged in official duties; or
(7) To vehicles engaged in highway maintenance and construction operations."
SECTION 2.
This Act shall become effective on July 1, 2027.
SECTION 3.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.
## Summaries written by Georgia Commons
The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary.
A House substitute bill would set a 50 mile per hour minimum speed on interstates and Georgia Highway 400 where the posted limit is 65 mph or higher, taking effect July 1, 2027.
### Plain-language summary
Current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-184) already bans driving so slowly that it blocks normal traffic flow, and lets transportation officials post minimum speed limits where slow driving causes problems. This bill adds a specific new rule: on controlled-access highways that are part of the interstate system, or on Georgia Highway 400, where the posted speed limit is 65 mph or higher, drivers could not go slower than 50 mph.
The bill also cleans up the existing 'passing lane' rule, which already bars drivers from lingering in the left lane once a faster car approaches from behind, by renumbering subsections and rewording the definition of 'passing lane' without changing its meaning. The same list of exceptions (bad weather, traffic congestion, tolls, emergency vehicles, construction, needing to exit or turn) still applies. The changes would take effect July 1, 2027.
### What it does
- Adds a new minimum speed limit of 50 mph on interstate highways and Georgia Highway 400 where the posted limit is 65 mph or higher.
- Keeps the existing ban on driving so slowly it impedes normal traffic flow, unless slower speed is needed for safety.
- Renumbers and slightly rewords the passing lane rule and its definition of 'passing lane' without changing its substance.
- Preserves the seven existing exceptions to the passing lane rule, including weather, congestion, tolls, and emergency and construction vehicles.
- Sets the effective date for all these changes as July 1, 2027.
### Who it affects
Drivers on Georgia's interstate highways and Georgia Highway 400, especially those traveling well below the flow of traffic on high-speed segments. It also affects the Georgia Department of Transportation and Department of Public Safety, which oversee posted speed limits and traffic engineering studies.
### Why it matters
Drivers who go noticeably slower than 50 mph on these high-speed highways could be violating the law even without a posted minimum sign, once the highway's limit is 65 mph or higher. This could affect enforcement and ticketing on interstates and Georgia 400 starting in mid-2027.
### Key provisions
- Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 40-6-184 by adding new subsection (c), setting a 50 mph minimum on controlled-access interstate highways or Georgia Highway 400 with posted limits of 65 mph or more.
- Section 1 also renumbers the existing passing lane rule to new subsection (d) and updates the definition of 'passing lane' to mean the most left-hand lane other than a high occupancy vehicle lane.
- Section 1 preserves the seven listed exceptions to the passing lane rule, such as congestion, weather, tolls, exiting, emergency vehicles, and highway construction work.
- Section 2 sets the effective date of the Act as July 1, 2027.
- Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.
## Status
- Status: Introduced (2025-03-20)
- Last action: House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (2026-02-20)
- Sponsors: John Carson, Bill Hitchens, Alan Powell, Brad Thomas, Clint Crowe, Eddie Lumsden
- Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71505
> The history, votes, and amendments (199 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hb809.md?full=1