Traffic Safety - As enacted, clarifies the areas in which a personal delivery device may be operated and where such devices are prohibited; authorizes local resolutions or ordinances to both regulate and prohibit such de, the official text

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                              PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 581

                                                    SENATE BILL NO. 1625

                                                             By Massey

                                           Substituted for: House Bill No. 1684

                                                    By Hawk, McCalmon

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 55, Chapter 8, relative to personal delivery
         devices.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

         SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-8-101, is amended by deleting
subdivision (53)(8) and substituting instead:

                   (B) Is operated primarily on sidewalks, crosswalks, bicycle lanes or paths, shoulders,
         the area adjacent to the right-hand edge or curb of the roadway, parking lots, or a similar
         area;

         SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-8-209(b}, is amended by deleting the
period (.) at the end of the subsection and substituting instead the language "and in other areas, up
to twenty (20) miles per hour."

          SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-8-209(e), is amended by deleting the
first sentence, which presently reads:

                   Personal delivery devices may be prohibited by local resolutions or ordinances if the
          local government determines that the prohibition is necessary, in the interest of public safety.

and substituting instead:

                   Personal delivery devices may be regulated or prohibited by local resolutions or
          ordinances if the local government determines that the regulation or prohibition is necessary,
          in the interest of public safety. A regulation adopted by a local government must not be
          inconsistent with this section.

          SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-8-209, is amended by inserting the
following as a new subsection (a) and redesignating existing subsection (a) and the remaining
subsections accordingly:

                    (a)(1) Notwithstanding another law to the contrary and except as provided in
                    subdivision (a)(2) and subsection (e), a person or entity may operate a personal
                    delivery device on a sidewalk, crosswalk, bicycle lane or path, shoulder, the area
                    adjacent to the right-hand edge or curb of the roadway, parking lot, or a similar area
                    in this state.

                             (2) A personal delivery device must not be operated:

                                       (A) In a bicycle lane of any road or highway where the speed limit is
                             greater than forty-five miles per hour (45 mph);

                                       (B) On the shoulder or the area adjacent to the right-hand edge or curb
                              of the roadway of any road or highway where the speed limit is greater than
                             forty-five miles per hour (45 mph) or the road or highway is a part of the
                              interstate highway system or a controlled access highway; or
SB 1625
                                       (C) In a crosswalk, whether marked or unmarked, if the device is not

                             programmed to properly identify and safely use a crosswalk, including being
                             able to:

                                                 (i) Properly react to crosswalk signage or signals;
                                                 (ii) Identify and distinguish crosswalks, pedestrians, and
                                       vehicular traffic;
                                                 (iii) Yield or not obstruct the right-of-way to pedestrians; and
                                                 (iv) Yield or not obstruct the right-of-way of traffic turning onto
                                       the road or highway.
                             (3) A personal delivery device must be regulated as, and is subject to all of the
                   requirements under this chapter and chapter 10, parts 1-5 of this title that are
                   applicable to, a pedestrian when operated in a pedestrian area or a bicyclist when
                   operated in all other areas, except as to those provisions that by their nature can
                   have no application or that would place an unreasonable burden on the operation of
                   the personal delivery device.
          SECTION 5. This act takes effect July 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it.

                                                                 2
         SENATE BILL NO. 1625

PASSED:  February 19, 2026

                                         RANDY McNAL,v
                            S1 PEAKER OF THE SENA ~E

                                        -~
                            CAMERON SEXTON, SPEAKER
                            HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Jo ft_i1l APPROVED this
         day of ['/) C(Y(                   2026

         ~u.. -
                        BILL LEE, GOVERNOR