SECTION 1.  Chapter 85 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 21A the following section:-

Section 21B.  Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, a city or town may establish, on public ways under care and custody of the city, a senior citizen safety zone, which may be an area adjacent to a facility, publicly or privately owned and used as senior citizen housing, a hospital, nursing home or assisted living facility, a community center where senior activities are conducted on a regular basis or a congregate elderly facility approved as a planned unit development by the city.

A senior citizen safety zone may be established by a city council, the transportation commission of the City of Boston, the board of selectmen, traffic commission, or traffic director, in the manner set forth by municipal charter or other local law, in the manner set forth by municipal charter or other local law, for the adoption of traffic rules, regulations, ordinances, or bylaws. The locally-designated body charged with regulating traffic may take necessary action to reduce vehicular speed by reducing speed limits to not less than 20 miles per hour or such lower speed limit as is set for school zones and by installing signals or appropriate signs and restriping roadways, and may adopt The traffic engineer may adopt and amend rules and regulations to carry out this section.

The city or town shall notify the state traffic engineer upon the establishment of a senior citizen safety zone. The city shall notify the state traffic engineer of any reduction of speed on a functionally classified local roadway.

This section shall not apply to any state highway, numbered route or functionally-classified arterial.

SECTION 2.  Section 17 of chapter 90 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “hour”, in line 15, the following words:-

, or (5) within a senior citizen safety zone which may be established by a city or town as provided in section 21B of chapter 85 at a rate of speed exceeding 20 miles per hour or such lower speed limit as is set for school zones.