[Amended 10-20-1998 by Ord. No. 269-1998; 4-20-1999 by Ord. No. 98-1999; 8-10-2009 by Ord. No. 146-2009; 12-16-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-257; 7-17-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-112]
A. 
The words and phrases used in this chapter shall, for the purposes of this chapter, have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by Article 1 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York.
B. 
The following words and phrases, which are not defined by Article 1 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York, shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section for the purposes of this chapter:
ABANDONED VEHICLE
A junked, discarded, dismantled and/or unregistered motor vehicle, including a vehicle which is incapable of being self-propelled upon the public streets, a vehicle whose owner cannot be identified and a vehicle which is without current license plates attached to the vehicle.
BLOCK
That portion of any street between intersections.
BUS, OMNIBUS or COACH
Any motor vehicle equipped and used for the transportation of seven or more passengers for hire.
COMMISSIONER
The Police Commissioner of the City of New Rochelle.
CURB
The boundaries of the roadway, whether marked by curbstones or not so marked.
CURBLINE
The prolongation of the lateral line of a curb or, in the absence of a curb, the lateral boundary line of the roadway.
DERELICT VEHICLE
A vehicle which is dilapidated, burned out, stripped and/or vandalized as to be of no apparent value other than scrap.
HOLIDAYS
New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, President's Day, Election Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
IDLING
The stopping or standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, while the engine is running.
OFFICIAL TIME STANDARD
Whenever certain hours are named herein or on traffic control devices, they shall mean the time standard which is in current use in this date.
OFFICIAL TRAFFIC SIGNS AND SIGNALS
All signs, markings, devices and signals not inconsistent with this chapter, placed or erected by authority of a public body or official having jurisdiction, for the purpose of guiding, directing, warning or regulating traffic.
ONE-WAY TRAFFIC
Traffic restricted in one direction.
PARKING METER/PAY MACHINES ZONES
Such highways or parts of highways in the City where, pursuant to this chapter or any other ordinance, parking meters/pay machines are installed, operated, maintained, policed and supervised and where the payment of a fee for the privilege of parking where such meters/pay machines are in operation is fixed and required.
POLICE TOWING
The moving of a motor vehicle by another vehicle for hire at the direction of the Police Department.
SCHOOL DAYS
Monday through Friday from September 1 to June 30, except holidays.
STANDING
The stopping of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in receiving or discharging passengers.
STOP or STOPPING
When required, a complete cessation from movement; when prohibited, any halting, even momentarily, of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or any compliance with the directions of a police officer or traffic control sign or signal.
STORAGE AREA
An area or region either designated by the Commissioner or owned or under the control of the tow company to hold vehicles towed under this chapter until disposed of under the provisions of this chapter.
THROUGH TRAFFIC STREET
Properly designated main artery of travel.
TOW OPERATOR
Any individual, firm, association, joint venture, partnership, group, corporation or any other legal entity or combination of entities which provide the service of moving a motor vehicle by another vehicle for hire or the storage of vehicles after towing, and shall include, without limitation, owners of towing trucks, their agents and employees.
TOW TRUCK
A vehicle equipped with a crane or other device to raise a vehicle or the front or rear end thereof, or any other vehicle which is towing or transporting another vehicle.
VEHICLE
Every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported on a street or highway other than devices actually moved by human power or devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
The Commissioner of Public Works shall install and maintain traffic control devices when and as required under the provisions of this chapter, to make effective the provisions of this chapter, and may install and maintain such additional traffic control devices as he may deem necessary to regulate, warn or guide traffic under the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York, subject to the provisions of §§ 1682 and 1684 of that law.
A. 
Emergency vehicles. When in the performance of duty, the following vehicles shall have the right-of-way: United States Mail, police, fire, fire patrol, Bureau of Buildings, emergency repair of public service corporations, ambulances, the military and vehicles equipped with a gong or siren whistle operated by a Chief or Assistant Chief or Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of a Fire Department, provided that such gong or siren is being sounded.
B. 
Processions. A vehicle, except as provided in this section, shall not be driven through a procession except by order of a peace officer. If the procession shall take more than five minutes to pass a given point, it shall be broken and traffic permitted to go through.
C. 
Intersections.
(1) 
Every driver of a vehicle approaching an intersection shall grant the right-of-way at such intersection to any vehicle approaching from his right except where otherwise directed by a peace officer or as otherwise provided by this chapter with respect to intersections where traffic is controlled by traffic control signals.
(2) 
Every driver of a vehicle turning to the left at intersections shall yield the right-of-way to vehicles proceeding straight across the intersection from the opposite direction.
D. 
Center line. The vehicle having the center line of the highway on its left shall have the right-of-way. In meeting, both vehicles shall keep to the right and this without regard to the center line of the highway. Slowly moving vehicles must be kept as near to the curb as practicable.
E. 
Fire apparatus.
(1) 
A vehicle must not be so driven as to impede or obstruct the progress of the apparatus of a Fire Department or any official or employee of a city, town or village in the discharge of his duty at a fire. The driver of a vehicle must not drive through or within the established fire lines or over a line of fire hose.
(2) 
On the approach of fire apparatus, as evidenced by suitable and continuous warning or street signals or audible one to another, indicating the route of apparatus, the driver of a vehicle must immediately draw up such vehicle as near as practicable to the righthand curb and parallel thereto and bring it to a standstill and keep it stationary until the apparatus has passed.
(3) 
It shall be unlawful for the operator of any vehicle other than a municipally owned or emergency vehicle on official business to follow closer than 500 feet any fire apparatus traveling in response to a fire alarm or to drive into or stop any vehicle within the block where fire apparatus has stopped in answer to a fire alarm.
It shall be unlawful for any person to do any act forbidden or to fail to perform any act required by this chapter or any regulation promulgated by an official having jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
A driver must at all times comply with any direction given by a peace officer by hand, voice, whistle or mechanical device, and a peace officer in order to expedite the movement of traffic or to safeguard pedestrians or property may disregard any traffic light, signal or ordinance so long as necessary for such purpose.
[Amended 7-21-2009 by Ord. No. 130-2009; 5-29-2012 by Ord. No. 77-2012]
A. 
Whenever a peace officer shall deem it advisable during a fire or at the time of an accident or special emergency, and for such period of time only as is necessitated thereby for the public safety or convenience, to temporarily close any street or part thereof to vehicular traffic or to vehicles of a certain description or to divert the traffic thereof or to divert or break the course of pedestrian traffic, such official shall have power and authority so to do, and the driver of any vehicle or any pedestrian affected thereby shall comply with such order or regulation.
B. 
The Police Commissioner and/or his designee are authorized to temporarily enact or suspend any parking or traffic restrictions. including without limitation the closure of a public roadway, in the interests of public safety or convenience, for a period not to exceed 30 days.
C. 
Any organization requesting a street closure shall apply for a permit from the City Clerk's Office 30 days prior to the event.
[Amended 2-20-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-37]
It shall be unlawful for any person to place or maintain or to display upon or in view of any highway, sidewalk, or curb, any unofficial sign, signal, pavement marking, or device which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles an official sign, pavement marking, or signal or which attempts to regulate the movement of traffic or parking of vehicles or which hides from view any official sign, pavement marking, or signal. Any peace officer and/or the Commissioner of Public Works is hereby empowered to remove every such prohibited sign, signal, pavement marking or device without notice.
The provisions of this chapter, except as otherwise specifically stated, shall apply to and include the driver of any vehicle owned or used in the service of the Government of the United States, this state, county or City, except that the provisions of this chapter shall not apply to an authorized emergency vehicle while the driver thereof is operating the same in the necessary performance of his or her duties, provided that the gong, siren or exhaust whistle of any such vehicle is continuously sounded, but this shall not relieve the driver or owner of any vehicle from the consequences of the arbitrary or careless exercise of this right.
When a traffic control signal shall flash or light red, a driver approaching or facing the same shall stop back of the near side crosswalk of the intersection.
A. 
The driver of a vehicle turning to the right from the roadway shall approach and turn the corner as near the right-hand curb as practicable.
B. 
The driver of a vehicle turning to the left at an intersection or into a driveway shall approach the point of turning in the lane for traffic to the right of the center of the roadway, and unless otherwise directed by a peace officer, sign or pavement marking, the operator of a vehicle, before turning left at an intersection, shall pass to the right of the center of the intersection, provided that in a roadway laned for traffic, or where one-way traffic is prescribed, a left turn shall be made from the left lane of traffic.
A. 
The driver of a vehicle upon a street or highway, upon meeting or overtaking from either direction a school bus marked and equipped as provided in the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York which has stopped on the highway for the purpose of receiving or discharging school children, shall stop the vehicle before reaching such school bus when there is in operation on said school bus a visual signal as specified in the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York, and said driver shall not proceed until such school bus resumes motion or until signaled by the driver or a police officer to proceed.
B. 
The driver of such school bus, when discharging pupils who must cross the highway, shall instruct such pupils to cross in front of the bus, and the driver thereof shall keep such school bus halted with red signal lights flashing until such pupils have reached the opposite side of the highway.
A. 
Turning. Before turning to the right or left and except in an emergency, before decreasing speed or stopping, the driver of a vehicle shall give warning either by holding his arm straight out horizontally and at right angles to the vehicle or by operating an adequate mechanical signaling device.
B. 
Signals. The driver of a vehicle shall, before turning while in motion or from a standstill or changing the course of such vehicle or before starting from a standstill when parked, first see that there is sufficient space to make such movement in safety and shall give a visible or audible signal to the peace officer, if there is such, or to drivers of other vehicles of his intention to make such movement by signaling as provided in this section, and when a peace officer is in charge of the traffic, indicate to him the direction in which the vehicle is to be turned.
C. 
Backing. Before backing any vehicle, the driver shall see that the way is clear and shall give adequate warning and shall, while backing, exercise due vigilance to prevent an accident.
D. 
Passing. The driver of an overtaking vehicle shall signal his desire to pass an overtaken vehicle by a blast or stroke of the horn or other signaling device, and thereupon it shall be the duty of the driver of the overtaken vehicle, if possible, to turn to the right so as to allow the overtaking vehicle a reasonable space in which to pass or to warn by signal the impossibility of such passage.
An omnibus shall stop only at designated stops for the purpose of receiving or discharging passengers, except when otherwise directed by a peace officer.
When stopping for the purpose of receiving or discharging passengers, an omnibus shall be stopped as near the curbing as possible, with the bus parallel to the curb.
A. 
No person shall park any vehicle upon a sidewalk or in the space between the sidewalk and the curb or, where there is no sidewalk and no curb, from the edge of the paved area of the roadway to the property line of the abutting property owner.
B. 
Except as may be otherwise provided in this chapter, no person shall lead, ride or drive a horse or permit or suffer any vehicle to be driven or otherwise to pass or go over or upon the footpath or sidewalk for any purpose whatever, except over a driveway.
[Amended 5-16-1989 by Ord. No. 125-1989]
A. 
No person shall park any vehicle upon a public highway for the purpose of displaying such vehicle for sale.
B. 
It shall be unlawful to make repairs to any vehicle in any public highway except in an emergency.
Except in an emergency or at the direction of a peace officer or traffic control signal, no vehicle shall be stopped or left standing:
A. 
Within an intersection.
B. 
Between a safety zone and the adjacent curb.
C. 
Within 15 feet of any fire hydrant unless the vehicle is actually in charge of and attended by a person capable of operating it.
D. 
In such a position as to prevent another vehicle already stopped near the curb from moving away.
E. 
Within 25 feet of any crossing or intersection.
F. 
Within 30 feet of a point on the curb opposite the ends of a safety zone.
G. 
In front of a private driveway.
H. 
On a crosswalk.
A. 
No person shall park or stand any vehicle in any street in this City parallel to another parked vehicle so that said vehicle is double parked.
B. 
Notwithstanding any other penalty provision of this chapter, a violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $100.
[Added 5-16-1989 by Ord. No. 126-1989]
No person in charge or control of any vehicle shall obstruct or delay the lawful movement of traffic or the lawful movement of any other vehicle and/or obstruct any portion of a roadway reserved or designated as a traffic lane.
[Amended 2-18-2025 by Ord. No. 2025-20]
A. 
Control signals. Whenever pedestrian control signals exhibiting the words WALK or DON'T WALK, or illuminated symbols of a WALKING PERSON or UPRAISED HAND successively are in operation, such signals shall indicate as follows:
(1) 
WALK or WALKING PERSON: Pedestrians facing such signal may proceed across the roadway in the direction of the signal in any marked or unmarked crosswalk. Vehicular traffic shall yield the right-of-way to such pedestrians.
(2) 
Flashing UPRAISED HAND or DON'T WALK: Pedestrians facing such signals are warned that there is insufficient time to begin crossing the roadway. Pedestrians already in the roadway shall proceed to the nearest safety island or sidewalk. Vehicular traffic shall yield the right-of-way to such pedestrians.
(3) 
Steady UPRAISED HAND or DON'T WALK: Pedestrians facing such signals are warned not to enter this roadway when the steady UPRAISED HAND or DON'T WALK signal is shown.
B. 
Police directions. Pedestrians shall be subject to the lawful orders and directions of any police officer.
C. 
Crosswalks.
(1) 
When traffic control signals or pedestrian control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing a two-way roadway within a marked or unmarked crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger.
(2) 
When traffic control signals or pedestrian control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing a one-way roadway within a marked or unmarked crosswalk when the pedestrian is in the path of the vehicle or is approaching so closely thereto as to be in danger.
(3) 
Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection C(1) and (2) of this section, no pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impractical for the driver to yield.
(4) 
Whenever any vehicle is stopped at a marked or unmarked crosswalk to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear in the same or adjacent lanes shall not overtake and pass such stopped vehicle.
D. 
Crossings.
(1) 
Every pedestrian crossing a roadway other than within a marked or unmarked crosswalk shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.
(2) 
No pedestrian shall enter or cross a roadway at any point where signs, fences, barriers or other devices are erected to prohibit or restrict such crossing or entry.
(3) 
No pedestrian shall cross any roadway at an intersection except within a marked or unmarked crosswalk.
E. 
Driver caution. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian.
F. 
Walking in roadway. Pedestrians walking or remaining on the paved portion or traveled part of a roadway shall be subject to and comply with the rules governing vehicles with respect to meeting and turning out, except that such pedestrians shall keep to the left of the center line thereof and turn to their left instead of right side thereof, so as to permit all vehicles passing them in either direction to pass on their right. Such pedestrians shall not be subject to the rules governing vehicles as to giving signals.
G. 
Soliciting rides. It shall be unlawful for any person to stand in a roadway for the purpose of stopping a private vehicle to solicit rides from or to solicit from or sell to occupants of such vehicle. The provision of this subsection as to solicitation of rides shall not apply to any member of the military or naval forces of the United States when in uniform.
H. 
Blind persons.
(1) 
It is unlawful for any person unless totally or partially blind or otherwise incapacitated, while on any public street or highway, to carry in a raised or extended position a cane or walking stick which is white in color or white tipped with red.
(2) 
Whenever a pedestrian in crossing or attempting to cross a public street or highway, guided by a guide dog or carrying in a raised or extended position a cane or walking stick which is white in color or white tipped with red, the driver of any vehicle approaching the intersection or place where such pedestrian is attempting to cross shall bring his vehicle to a full stop before arriving at such intersection or place of crossing and before proceeding shall take such precautions as may be necessary to avoid injuring such pedestrian.
(3) 
Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed to deprive any totally or partially blind or otherwise incapacitated person not carrying such a cane or walking stick or not being guided by a dog of the rights and privileges conferred by law upon pedestrians crossing streets and highways, nor shall the failure of such totally or partially blind or otherwise incapacitated person to carry a cane or walking stick or to be guided by a guide dog upon the streets, highways or sidewalks of this City be held to constitute nor be evidence of contributory negligence.
A. 
For the purpose of maintaining an accurate record of all regulations adopted under the provisions of this chapter, there is hereby established a system of schedules, appearing as Article X of this chapter, in which shall be entered all regulations after adoption. Such schedules shall be deemed a part of the section to which they refer. All regulations shall be adopted with reference to the appropriate schedule as indicated in the various sections of this chapter.
B. 
The Police Commissioner is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt rules and regulations pertaining to the regulation of traffic upon all streets and public places in the City of New Rochelle. Such rules and regulations, except for those of an emergency nature, shall take effect seven days after the City Council has been advised thereof by the City Manager in writing, provided that there is no objection thereto by any member of the City Council. If there should be objection, then the rules and regulations to which there may be objection shall be discussed by the City Council at its next regular meeting. Subsequent thereto, the City Council may approve the rules or regulations by majority vote. The Police Commissioner shall not, however, have the power to make or establish one-way streets.