Local authorities may regulate traffic and related street uses on highways under their jurisdiction when acting reasonably under the police power.
Sec. 542.202. POWERS OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES. (a) This subtitle does not prevent a local authority, with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction and in the reasonable exercise of the police power, from: (1) regulating traffic by police officers or traffic-control devices; (2) regulating the stopping, standing, or parking of a vehicle; (3) regulating or prohibiting a procession or assemblage on a highway; (4) regulating the operation and requiring registration and licensing of a bicycle or electric bicycle, including payment of a registration fee, except as provided by Section 551.106; (5) regulating the time, place, and manner in which a roller skater may use a highway; (6) regulating the speed of a vehicle in a public park; (7) regulating or prohibiting the turning of a vehicle or specified type of vehicle at an intersection; (8) designating an intersection as a stop intersection or a yield intersection and requiring each vehicle to stop or yield at one or more entrances to the intersection; (9) designating a highway as a through highway; (10) designating a highway as a one-way highway and requiring each vehicle on the highway to move in one specific direction; (11) designating school crossing guards and school crossing zones; (12) altering a speed limit as authorized by this subtitle; or (13) adopting other traffic rules specifically authorized by this subtitle. (b) In this section: (1) "Roller skater" means a person wearing footwear with a set of wheels attached. (2) "Through highway" means a highway or a portion of a highway on which: (A) vehicular traffic is given preferential right-of-way; and (B) vehicular traffic entering from an intersecting highway is required by law to yield right-of-way in compliance with an official traffic-control device. (3) "Regulating" means criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement against a person, including the owner or operator of a motor vehicle, in accordance with a state law or a municipal ordinance. Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995. Amended by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1085, Sec. 6, eff. Sept. 1, 2001; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 359, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.