Chapter 9.02
GENERAL PROVISIONS, ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT
Sections:
9.02.040 Traffic administration.
9.02.070 Obedience to police or authorized officers.
9.02.080 Public employees to obey traffic regulations.
9.02.010 General provisions.
This title shall serve as the traffic ordinance for the city. Adoption by the State Legislature of the California Vehicle Code provides for uniform traffic regulations throughout the state. Within these regulations the California Vehicle Code also delegates to local government specific authority to adopt supplemental regulations by ordinance or resolution. It is the intent of this title to establish specific legal and organizational authority for traffic management and regulatory enforcement of use within the public right-of-way within the city. [Ord. 2010-126 § 1 (Exh. A)].
9.02.020 Traffic manual.
To guide the application of the laws contained in this title and in the California Vehicle Code, the city hereby adopts the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, as it may be amended from time to time, which defines engineering policies, procedures, and interpretations of traffic engineering practice. Any amendments to the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices shall be approved by resolution of the city council. [Ord. 2010-126 § 1 (Exh. A)].
9.02.030 Definitions.
Whenever any words or phrases used in this title are not defined, but are defined in the California Vehicle Code, such definitions shall apply. Additionally, the following definitions apply to the use of these terms for the purpose of this title:
“Bicycle lane” means a marked lane within the roadway designated by appropriate signs and markings for the one-way use of bicycles.
“Bus stop zone” means the space adjacent to the curb or edge of a roadway reserved for the exclusive use of buses during the loading or unloading of passengers.
“Curb” means the lateral boundary of the roadway whether such curb be marked by curbing construction or not so marked; it does not include the line dividing the roadway of a street from parking strips in the center of a street, nor from tracks or rights-of-way of public utility companies.
“Director” means the director of public works/traffic engineer for the city or his or her authorized representative or designee.
“Fire department” means the Orange County fire authority, a joint powers authority of which the city is a member.
“Loading” and “unloading” mean the active loading or unloading of persons or property, including the performance of those activities required to prepare the vehicle for either travel or storage.
“Loading zone” means the space adjacent to a curb reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles during the loading or unloading of passengers or materials.
“Oversized vehicle” means any of the following:
1. Any vehicle of a length in excess of 24 feet;
2. Any vehicle with a weight in excess of 10,000 pounds;
3. Any vehicle used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit and designed, used or maintained for the transportation of property, including buses, motor trucks, trailers, semitrailers, trailer coaches or truck tractors, as defined in the California Vehicle Code, and similar vehicles of a width in excess of 84 inches as measured at the widest portion of the body not including mirrors or other extensions;
4. Any farm machinery or special purpose machinery.
“Park” or “leave standing,” for the purpose of this section, shall include failing to move a vehicle at least one-tenth of a mile as measured on the vehicle’s odometer during the time period specified. In the absence of an odometer reading, “park or leave standing” shall include failing to move a vehicle at least 100 feet, as measured from axle to axle, of the last marked location of said vehicle.
“Passenger loading zone” means the space adjacent to a curb reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles during the loading or unloading of passengers.
“Police department” means the Orange County sheriff’s department, authorized to provide police services and functions pursuant to contract.
“Recreational vehicle” means a motor home, travel trailer, truck camper or camping trailer, with or without motive power, that is built on a single chassis, is designed for human habitation for recreational, emergency, or other occupancy, and is either self-propelled, truck-mounted, or permanently towable on public streets and highways without a permit.
“Vehicle Code” means the California Vehicle Code. [Ord. 2010-126 § 1 (Exh. A)].
Cross-reference: definitions generally, AVMC 1.02.010.
9.02.040 Traffic administration.
A. It shall be the general duty of the director to determine the installation, design, operation, and maintenance of traffic control devices, design and/or review traffic flow systems and appurtenances, conduct engineering analyses of traffic accidents; devise remedial measures; and conduct engineering and traffic investigations of traffic conditions.
B. The director shall cooperate with the California Highway Patrol, the police department, the fire department, and other agencies as appropriate in the development of ways and means to improve traffic conditions and maximize traffic safety.
C. The director shall have the power and duty to place and maintain or cause to be placed and maintained official traffic control devices when and as required to make effective the provisions of this title.
D. Whenever the California Vehicle Code or this title requires for the effectiveness of any provision thereof that traffic control devices be installed to give notice to the public of the application of such laws, the director shall place and maintain, or cause to be placed and maintained, such appropriate signs, signals or other traffic control devices as may be authorized under this title or by the California Vehicle Code or as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this title or the California Vehicle Code or to warn or guide traffic upon the highways. [Ord. 2010-126 § 1 (Exh. A)].
9.02.050 Traffic enforcement.
It shall be the duty of officers of the police department to enforce the traffic regulations of the city and all of the state vehicle laws applicable to traffic in the city, to make arrests for traffic violations, to investigate traffic accidents and to cooperate with the director and other officials of the city in the administration of traffic laws and in developing ways and means to improve traffic conditions, and to carry out those duties specially imposed upon the police department by this title, other provisions of this code and other ordinances of the city. [Ord. 2010-126 § 1 (Exh. A)].
Cross-reference: violations and penalties generally, Chapter 1.06 AVMC.
9.02.060 Traffic directions.
No person other than an officer of the police department or members of the fire department or a person authorized by an officer of the police department or a person authorized by law shall direct or attempt to direct traffic by voice, hand, audible or other signal, except that persons may operate, when and as provided in this title, any mechanical pushbutton signal erected by order of the director. [Ord. 2010-126 § 1 (Exh. A)].
9.02.070 Obedience to police or authorized officers.
No person shall fail or refuse to comply with or to perform any act forbidden by any lawful order, signal or direction of a traffic or police officer, a member of the fire department or a person authorized by an officer of the police department or by law. [Ord. 2010-126 § 1 (Exh. A)].
Cross-reference: interference with public officers prohibited, AVMC 8.20.040.
9.02.080 Public employees to obey traffic regulations.
The provisions of this title shall apply to the operator of any vehicle owned by or used in the service of the United States government, this state, any county or city and it is unlawful for any such operator to violate any of the provisions of this title, except as otherwise permitted in this title or by the California Vehicle Code. [Ord. 2010-126 § 1 (Exh. A)].
9.02.090 Exemptions.
A. The provisions of this title regulating the operation, parking and standing of vehicles shall not apply to vehicles operated by the police or fire department, any public ambulance, any public utility vehicle or any private ambulance which has qualified as an authorized emergency vehicle and is operated in the manner specified by the California Vehicle Code in response to an emergency call. The foregoing exemptions shall not, however, relieve the operator of any such vehicle from the obligation to exercise due care for the safety of others or the consequences of his or her willful disregard of the safety of others.
B. The provisions of this title regulating the parking or standing of vehicles shall not apply to any vehicle of a city department or public utility while in use for construction or repair work. [Ord. 2010-126 § 1 (Exh. A)].