As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
AUTHORIZED EMERGENCY VEHICLE
Fire department, police vehicle, snow removal and plowing
vehicles and such ambulances and emergency vehicles of municipal departments
or public service corporations as are designated or authorized by
the Town Council.
COMPACT PART OF TOWN
Downtown Center Zoning Districts 1 and 2 as defined in §
260-12, entitled "Zoning Districts," of Article
III, District Regulations and Maps.
[Added 5-23-2011 by Ch. No. 1750]
CROSSWALK
That portion of a roadway ordinarily included within the
prolongation of curb and property lines at intersections, or any other
portion of a roadway clearly indicated for pedestrian crossing by
lines or other markings on the surface.
DRIVEWAY
Every road or driveway not open to the use of the public
for purposes of vehicular travel.
INTERSECTION
The area embraced within the prolongation of the lateral
curblines, or, if none, then the lateral boundary lines of two or
more streets or highways which join one another at an angle whether
or not one such street or highway crosses the other.
OFFICIAL TRAFFIC SIGNS
All signs, markings and devices 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.
OPERATOR
Any person who is in actual physical control of a vehicle.
PARKING
The standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, attended
or unattended, upon a street or highway, otherwise than temporarily
for the purpose of and while expeditiously taking on or leaving passengers
or loading or unloading merchandise then in readiness for immediate
loading or delivery, or otherwise than in obedience to traffic regulations
or traffic signs or signals.
PARKING LOT
Any off-street public parking area located in the Town and
established for the use of vehicles.
RIGHT-OF-WAY
The privilege of the immediate use of the street or highway.
ROADWAY
That portion of a street or highway between the regularly
established curblines or that part devoted to vehicular traffic.
SIDEWALK
Any walkway adjacent to a public road or street that is either
supported or unsupported by a curbing and is constructed of asphalt
or concrete and intended for the use of pedestrians.
[Added 5-23-2011 by Ch. No. 1750; amended at time of adoption of Code (see
Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
STREET or HIGHWAY
Any public street, avenue, road, boulevard, highway or other
public place located in the Town and established for the use of vehicles.
TRAFFIC
Pedestrians, ridden animals, herded animals, vehicles and
other conveyances either singly or together while using any street
or highway for purposes of travel.
TRAFFIC-CONTROL SIGNALS
Any device using colored lights, or words, or any combination
thereof, whether manually, electrically or mechanically operated by
which traffic is alternately directed to stop and to proceed.
VEHICLE
Every device or means in, upon or by which any person or
property is or may be transported or drawn upon a street or highway,
except those operated on rails or tracks.
[Amended 11-13-2006 by Ch. No. 1590; 5-23-2011 by Ch. No. 1750]
Each motor vehicle in the Town, including, but
not limited to, automobiles, trucks, and motorcycles, operated by
an internal combustion engine shall be provided with a muffler or
other suitable exhaust system, designed to prevent excessive, unusual
or unnecessary noise, which shall be maintained by the owner in good
working order and in constant operation. No person shall use upon
a motor vehicle a muffler lacking interior baffle plates or other
effective muffling devices, a gutter muffler, a muffler cut out or
a straight exhaust while such motor vehicle is being operated on a
street or highway. No person shall use on the exhaust or tail pipe
of a motor vehicle any extension or other device which will cause
excessive or unusual noise. All exhaust pipes carrying exhaust gases
from the motor shall be constructed of leak-proof, metal tubing and
shall be directed from the muffler toward the rear of the motor vehicle
and approximately parallel to the surface of the roadway, or upward
to a location above the cab or body of the vehicle. The fine for violation
shall be $75 for the first offense and $150 for the second offense
and any subsequent offense thereafter.
[Added 11-13-2006 by Ch. No. 1590]
It shall be unlawful for any person to operate
any radios, CD players, DVD players, tape players, televisions and
other audio-producing equipment, from which the sound created by this
equipment is capable of penetrating a closed vehicle from 20 feet
away from the location at which the sound is being generated. This
section shall include, but not be limited to, sound electronically
generated by autos, trucks, motor homes, mobile homes, houses, apartment
buildings, condominiums, commercial buildings, or from any type of
portable sound-producing equipment that can be carried or placed outdoors
which, through its operation, exceeds the provisions of this chapter.
All state and municipal vehicles shall be exempt from the provisions
of this chapter, as well as any person, firm, corporation or other
legal entity which holds a valid state or municipal entertainment
license to sponsor a parade, carnival or other similar special event.
The fine for violation shall be $75 for the first offense and $150
for the second offense and any subsequent offense thereafter.
No person shall unnecessarily operate any horn,
bell or other signaling device of any vehicle.
It shall be unlawful for any person traveling
upon any bicycle, coaster, sled, roller skates or any toy vehicle,
to cling to or attach himself or his vehicle to any other moving vehicle
upon any street.
[Amended 5-23-2011 by Ch. No. 1750]
A. No person
shall drive or propel any bicycle or other vehicle propelled in a
similar manner on the sidewalks, any government-owned property or
privately owned commercial property without the express written permission
of the property owner in the compact part of the Town (DC-1 and DC-2)
as further defined in § 260-12(A)(2) and § 260-13(B)(2)
of the Zoning Code of the Town of Westerly, with the exception of
any public street in accordance to Rhode Island General Laws.
B. No person
shall drive or propel any skateboard or other vehicle propelled in
a similar manner on the streets, roadway, sidewalks, any government-owned
property or privately owned commercial property without the express
written permission of the property owner in the compact part of the
Town (DC-1 and DC-2) as further defined in § 260-12(A)(2)
and § 260-13(B)(2) of the Zoning Code of the Town of Westerly.
[Amended 5-23-2011 by Ch. No. 1750]
No person shall play at ball, slide down a hill
on a sled or other vehicle, or play at any other game or sport in
any public street or highway in the Town, without permission of the
Chief of Police.