The City Traffic Engineer shall place and maintain
traffic control signs, signals and devices when and as required under
the traffic ordinances of the City to make effective the provisions
of said ordinances and may place and maintain such additional traffic
control devices as he/she may deem necessary to regulate traffic under
the traffic ordinances of the City or under State law or to guide
or warn traffic.
All traffic control signs, signals and devices
shall conform to the manual and specifications approved by the State
Highways and Transportation Commission or resolution adopted by the
Board of Aldermen of the City. All signs or signals required hereunder
for a particular purpose shall so far as practicable be uniform as
to type and location throughout the City. All traffic control devices
so erected and not inconsistent with the provisions of this Title
shall be official traffic control devices.
The driver of any vehicle shall obey the instructions
of any official traffic control device applicable thereto placed in
accordance with the provisions of this Title, unless otherwise directed
by a traffic or Police Officer, subject to the exceptions granted
the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle in this Title.
No provision of this Title for which official
traffic control devices are required shall be enforced against an
alleged violator if at the time and place of the alleged violation
an official device is not in proper position and sufficiently legible
to be seen by an ordinarily observant person. Whenever a particular
Section does not state that official traffic control devices are required,
such Section shall be effective even though no devices are erected
or in place.
A.
Whenever official traffic control devices are placed
in position approximately conforming to the requirements of this Title,
such devices shall be presumed to have been so placed by the official
act or direction of lawful authority, unless the contrary shall be
established by competent evidence.
B.
Any official traffic control device placed pursuant
to the provisions of this Title and purporting to conform to the lawful
requirements pertaining to such devices shall be presumed to comply
with the requirements of this Title, unless the contrary shall be
established by competent evidence.
A.
Whenever an illuminated flashing red or yellow signal
is used in a traffic sign or signal, it shall require obedience by
vehicular traffic as follows:
1.
Flashing red (stop signal). When a red lens
is illuminated with rapid intermittent flashes, drivers of vehicles
shall stop before entering the nearest crosswalk at an intersection
or at a limit line when marked or, if none, then before entering the
intersection, and the right to proceed shall be subject to the rules
applicable after making a stop at a stop sign.
2.
Flashing yellow (caution signal). When a yellow
lens is illuminated with rapid intermittent flashes, drivers of vehicles
may proceed through the intersection or past such signal only with
caution.
No person shall place, maintain or display upon
or in view of any highway an unauthorized sign, signal, marking or
device which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles an
official traffic control device or railroad sign or signal, or which
attempts to direct the movement of traffic, or which hides from view
or interferes with the effectiveness of any official traffic control
device or any railroad sign or signal.
No person shall without lawful authority attempt
to or in fact alter, deface, injure, knock down or remove any official
traffic control device or any railroad sign or signal or any inscription,
shield or insignia thereon or any other part thereof.
The City Traffic Engineer shall have authority
to declare any street or part thereof a play street and to place appropriate
signs or devices in the roadway indicating and helping to protect
the same.
Whenever authorized signs are erected indicating
any street or part thereof as a play street, no person shall drive
a vehicle upon any such street or portion thereof except drivers of
vehicles having business or whose residences are within such closed
area, and then any said driver shall exercise the greatest care in
driving upon any such street or portion thereof.
A.
The City Traffic Engineer is hereby authorized:
1.
To designate and maintain, by appropriate devices,
marks or lines upon the surface of the roadway, crosswalks at intersections
where in his/her opinion there is particular danger to pedestrians
crossing the roadway and at such other places as he/she may deem necessary.
2.
To establish safety zones of such kind and character
and at such places as he/she may deem necessary for the protection
of pedestrians.
A.
The City Traffic Engineer is hereby authorized to
mark traffic lanes upon the roadway of any street or highway where
a regular alignment of traffic is necessary.
B.
Where such traffic lanes have been marked, it shall
be unlawful for the operator of any vehicle to fail or refuse to keep
such vehicle within the boundaries of any such lane except when lawfully
passing another vehicle or preparatory to making a lawful turning
movement.