In this article:
A person engaged in the business of furnishing a private
motor vehicle escort for hire who personally escorts or guides a funeral
cortege or overwidth, overlength, or overheight motor vehicle or an
employee of a person engaged in the business of furnishing private
motor vehicle escort service for hire.
A badge of the size, type and design approved for the use
of regular police officers.
A person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of
furnishing private motor vehicle escorts for hire, which employs one
or more persons as employees, assistants, clerks or motor vehicle
escort guides.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1401)
(a)
This
article shall not apply to regularly employed officers or deputies
of the department of public safety, county sheriff, or police department
while engaged in escort services when assigned as an official duty
by their respective departments.
(b)
This
article shall not apply to escort activities for a funeral cortege
provided by a licensed funeral home responsible for the funeral service.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1426)
The police department shall have the following functions, powers
and duties:
(1)
To
investigate qualifications of all applicants.
(2)
To
investigate and aid in the prosecution of all violations of this article.
(3)
To
inspect and approve or disapprove motor vehicle equipment used as
escort vehicles.
(4)
To
inspect and approve or disapprove the equipment and uniform worn by
escort officers.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1412)
The owner of a private motor vehicle escort agency shall employ
as escort guides only those persons who are physically and mentally
capable to operate a motorcycle for hire and who are 18 years of age
or over. It shall be the responsibility of the private motor vehicle
escort agency to select competent operators for escort vehicles. An
owner of an escort agency shall not employ any person as a motor vehicle
escort guide who does not hold a valid state driver’s license
with motorcycle endorsement and an escort chauffeur’s license.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1419)
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to prohibit
regularly employed officers or deputies of the department of public
safety, county sheriff’s or police department from escorting
funeral corteges or oversized, overlength, or overwidth vehicles upon
the streets and roadways of the city, when assigned as an official
duty by their respective department.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1420)
Nothing continued in this article shall be construed as requiring
funeral directors or any other person conducting funerals to contract,
hire, or employ a private motor vehicle escort service to guide or
escort a funeral cortege in the city.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1421)
A funeral escort guide, engaged in furnishing an escort, must
use either a two-wheel or three-wheel motorcycle or automobile which
is in good mechanical condition and equipped with two lamps that display
an amber or a blue light visible from directly in front of the center
of the motorcycle. These lamps shall be in addition to those required
by state law. An escort vehicle shall not be equipped with a siren.
Decals, placards, signs, and insignias which resemble official police
officer’s badges or which bear the words “police,”
“official,” or “officer” shall not be used
on the escort vehicles nor shall the vehicles be painted a color resembling
the color of vehicle used by the city police department. No additional
equipment may be added after inspection by the police department unless
the vehicle is reinspected and approved before use. A motor vehicle
used in performing escort services shall be subject to inspection
at any time by the chief of police or authorized representative.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1422)
A funeral escort guide shall wear a uniform approved by the
chief of police. The uniform shall not resemble in pattern, design,
or color that worn by the regular police officers of the city. Funeral
escort guides may wear a badge and cap wreath if they desire; provided,
that the badge or wreath does not resemble the official police officer’s
badge or bear the word “police” or “officer.”
Noncommissioned officers’ stripes or commissioned officers’
bars or insignia denoting a rank shall not be worn on the uniform.
Funeral escort guides shall not wear a holster, handcuff case or cartridge
case. A whistle or flashlight baton may be used at the discretion
of the escort guide. An escort guide shall not have on his or her
person or on or about his or her escort vehicle any weapon declared
to be unlawful by the statutes of the state; provided, however, that
peace officers of the city, county, and the state who may be licensed
as escort guides may carry authorized weapons concealed on or about
their persons or escort vehicles while engaged as motor vehicle escort
guides. A person licensed by the state to carry a concealed handgun
may carry a concealed handgun pursuant to such authority.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1423)
(a)
A
motor vehicle escort guide shall not engage in a funeral escort service
other than that of escorting a funeral procession, consisting of the
hearse and cortege from the funeral home, the home of the deceased,
or the home of the deceased’s family to the place of service
and from the place of service to the place of interment. If a funeral
procession enters a roadway, expressway, or freeway which has a minimum
posted speed limit, the motor vehicle escort guide shall cease the
escort before the procession enters the roadway, expressway or freeway
and resume the escort after the procession exits the roadway, expressway,
or freeway.
(b)
A
motor vehicle escort guide may escort overheight, overlength, or overwidth
vehicles or loads as defined in the state Transportation Code, but
only after the chief of police has been notified of each individual
escort. The chief of police shall have the authority to designate
the route and time of the escort.
(c)
A
licensed motor vehicle escort guide is authorized to lead funeral
processions within the city when the procession has been properly
identified by the display of a pennant upon the outside of the lead
vehicle and the hearse, and all other vehicles have their headlights
turned on.
(d)
All
motor vehicles in an escorted funeral procession which have been properly
designated shall have the right-of-way over all other vehicles, except
fire apparatus, ambulances, and police vehicles, at any roadway intersection
within the city, and the procession may be escorted through stop signs
or signalized intersections without stopping, but the drivers of the
motor vehicles shall exercise due regard for the safety of all approaching
vehicles, and funeral processions being escorted shall be subject
at all times to the control of police officers of the city. This subsection
shall not apply to overheight, overlength, or overwidth vehicles or
loads as defined in the Texas Transportation Code, which shall obey
all traffic laws and traffic-control devices.
(e)
Funeral
processions shall travel as closely to the right edge of the roadway
as practical and at a safe and prudent speed.
(f)
Funeral
escort guides shall not stop traffic approaching from the opposite
direction or force or direct traffic to move off the roadway; however,
oncoming traffic may be stopped at intersections and other places
to assist the cortege in making left turns.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1424)
A person engaged in the business of furnishing private motor
vehicle escorts for hire or an employee of a private motor vehicle
escort agency shall not distribute, present, or give away a card,
handbill, or printed matter of any kind which bears the word “police,”
“official,” or “officer” in conjunction with
advertising an escort service; nor shall any advertisement state,
imply or misrepresent that a private motor vehicle escort service
is required by the police department, the city or by any of its ordinances.
(1990 Code, sec. 3.1425)
