As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
VEHICLE
Includes every automobile, truck, motorcycle, and every wagon, carriage, omnibus, pushcart, bicycle, and other conveyance (except baby carriages), in whatever manner or by whatever force or power the same may be driven, propelled, or ridden, which is or may be used for and adapted to pleasure riding or transportation of passengers, baggage, merchandise, or freight upon the public highway, and all commercial stands, whether on wheels or otherwise, and every draught and riding animal, except that an animal or animals attached to any vehicle shall with such vehicle constitute one vehicle.
The Department of Public Works shall be responsible for traffic safety and engineering, and the Director of the Department of Public Works shall be the Traffic Engineer. The Traffic Engineer of the City shall be responsible directly to the Mayor and shall have such duties and perform such functions relating to traffic safety and engineering as may be assigned to him/her by legislative act of the City Council.
A. 
The Traffic Engineer of the City, when notified that any trees, bushes, vines, fences, signs, or other obstructions are located on any property at an intersection of any highways or streets in the City or at an intersection of a side street or side road with a county or state highway in the City in such a manner as to obstruct the vision of the operators of vehicles as they reach such intersections, is hereby authorized and empowered to require the owner or owners of such property located at such intersections to remove therefrom such trees, bushes, vines, fences, signs, or other obstructions within such time as is reasonable taking into consideration the nature of the obstruction as the City shall in its discretion determine to be just.
B. 
It shall be unlawful for any owner of such property to fail to remove such obstruction within such time as may be limited in the notice. In addition to the penalty herein provided for, the City shall have the power, after giving the aforesaid notice and upon failure of the owner of such property to comply therewith, to have such trees, bushes, vines, fences, signs, or other obstructions removed and charge the cost of such removal to the owners of such property, which cost or charges shall be a lien on such property and be collected in the same manner as taxes are now collected.
It shall be unlawful for any person(s) to attach, cling, fasten, or tether himself/herself or others on any sled or similar device, on or in which he/she or others are being or will be conveyed, to any motor vehicle upon any roadway, as such motor vehicle and roadway are defined in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Transportation Article, or on any property used by the public in general.
It shall be unlawful for any person(s) to imitate any sign, standard, post, or paint on the pavement, curb, or roadway, any marks or lines similar to those used or erected by authority of the City to direct, control, or restrict traffic or parking of vehicles on the public highways in the City aforesaid.
It shall be unlawful for any person(s) to willfully deface, injure, move, or interfere with any sign, standard, post, safety zone, semaphore, tower, automatic signal, or any other traffic-directing device erected by the authority of the City or with any lines or marks painted, by authority of the county and/or the State of Maryland, on any pavement, curb, or roadway for the purposes of directing traffic or parking of vehicles.
It shall be unlawful for any person(s) to fail, neglect, or refuse to comply with any instruction or direction on any post, standard, sign, automatic signal, or other device created or erected by authority of the City or with any directing lines or marks painted in the roadway or upon any curb or pavement by authority of the City for the regulation of traffic and parking of vehicles on the public highways or with any instruction or direction of any police officer of the City engaged in the control and direction of traffic on any street, road, or highway in the City.
No person(s) shall drag by horses or other motive power any logs, poles, or timber or use any chain or rough lock or other device on any public road in the City so as to cause any amount of damage to said roads, and no person shall operate upon any of the public roads or highways of the City any vehicle so constructed or equipped as to cause any amount of damage to such highways. Damage to state or county roads shall be determined by the appropriate state or county law pertaining to same.
A. 
It shall be unlawful for any person(s) to place any obstruction upon any of the public highways, roads, bridges, streets, avenues, lanes, alleys or public parking areas of the City to interfere or obstruct the side ditches or drains thereof or encroach upon the same with fences or other obstructions or in any other manner.
B. 
It shall be unlawful for any person to destroy or remove barricades or signs from the public highways, roads, bridges, streets, avenues, lanes, alleys or public parking areas of the City during the course of construction or cause injury or damage to the same while under construction.
C. 
It shall be unlawful for any person(s) or corporation, its agents or employees to permit obstruction of any railroad crossing.
D. 
The provisions of this section shall not apply to any bona fide construction or road improvement contractor who has obtained the approval of the City or who has contracted or been licensed by the City where prohibited conduct is reasonably necessary in light of the project approved, contracted or licensed by the City.
It shall be unlawful for the driver of any vehicle to enter a street intersection or a marked crosswalk or to drive across a sidewalk in entering or leaving a garage or parking lot unless there is sufficient space beyond the intersection or crosswalk on the right half of the roadway or in the garage or on the parking lot to accommodate the vehicle he/she is driving or operating without obstructing the passage of other vehicles or pedestrians, notwithstanding any traffic-control signal indication to proceed, except that on a one-way street, drivers shall not be restricted to the use of the right half of the road, but may have access to the entire width thereof beyond the intersection or crosswalk, provided that sufficient space is available.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The section regarding use of streets for continuous parking, which immediately followed this section, was deleted 12-18-1995 by Ord. No. 796.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 190-21, Commercial vehicles in residential zones, was repealed 9-5-2023 by Ord. No. 1116.
A person may not stand in a roadway (as defined in Annotated Code of Maryland, Transportation Article) to sell or attempt to sell any goods, services, wares, or merchandise of any description or to solicit or accept any donation from or to distribute printed material of any description to any occupant of any vehicle unless expressly approved by the Mayor and City Council.
No person shall drive a motor vehicle across, over or upon a curb or sidewalk along any street except within the area and at those places where there has lawfully been permitted and constructed an entrance to a private road or driveway or except in those cases where it is reasonably necessary to do so in making a delivery of lumber or other heavy material to the adjacent property, and then only with the permission and consent of the abutting property owner.
It shall be unlawful for any person in the operation of any vehicle to obstruct any emergency medical, fire-fighting, and rescue vehicles in the City proceeding to a fire or other emergency incident, but all such vehicles shall immediately upon being warned of the approach of such emergency medical, fire-fighting, and rescue vehicles give the same the right-of-way and shall stop and shall not move on their way until such emergency vehicle is 500 feet distant from them in the direction such emergency vehicle is moving; and no vehicles shall park or be permitted to stand within 300 feet of any emergency medical, fire-fighting, and rescue vehicles while such emergency vehicle is attending a fire or other emergency incident.
It shall be unlawful to conduct or participate in a procession or assemblage on the streets of the City unless the procession or assemblage has been expressly approved by the Mayor and City Council of Havre de Grace.
It shall be unlawful to place any structure, building, or vehicle on any highway for the purpose of selling or displaying any produce or merchandise in any manner which constitutes a traffic hazard or obstructs traffic or sight distance. It shall be unlawful to fail to remove any such structure, building, or vehicle upon the order of any police officer.
A. 
It shall be unlawful to throw or deposit upon any highway any glass bottle, glass, nails, tacks, wire, cans or any other substance likely to injure any person, animal or vehicle.
B. 
It shall be unlawful for any person to fail to remove any destructive, hazardous or injurious material which that person drops or permits to be dropped.
C. 
It shall be unlawful for any person removing a wrecked or damaged vehicle from a highway to fail to remove any glass or other injurious substance dropped upon the highway from the vehicle or vehicles.
D. 
If this section is violated by an occupant of a vehicle which has two or more occupants and it cannot be determined which occupant is the violator, the owner of the vehicle, if present, shall be responsible for the violations; in the absence of the owner of the vehicle, the operator of the vehicle shall be responsible for the violation.
It shall be unlawful to move any dwelling house, structure, or other building on or over the streets of the City without first having obtained the consent of the Mayor and City Council.
In the case of the moving of any building, due care must be taken for the care of the streets of the City; and the person or persons moving the said building shall restore the streets to their original condition and shall continue to keep said streets, where disturbed, in good condition for a period of 60 days thereafter.
Any person(s) desiring to move any building over the streets of the City shall protect it by proper lights or danger signals.
Before removing any building or buildings on or over the streets of the City, the person or persons desiring to do so shall execute a bond to the Mayor and City Council of said City to save said City harmless from all claims, suits or actions at law growing out of the removal of said building or buildings in the proper care and repair of streets on and over which said building is moved in such amount as the Mayor and City Council may prescribe.
It shall be unlawful for any person(s), firm or association of persons to use any streets, sidewalks, lanes, highway, or public parking areas for other than its intended use without first receiving the permission of the Mayor and City Council.
It shall be unlawful for any person(s) to excavate or dig, in any manner, in any of the streets, lanes, sidewalks, highways, or public parking areas of the City of Havre de Grace without having first secured a permit therefor from the Department of Public Works.
It shall be unlawful for any public service corporation, company or individual to begin construction of or place or change the location of any main, conduit, pipe or other structure in the streets or public property of the City without the written approval of the Department of Public Works upon such conditions and subject to such limitations as may be imposed by the City. If any unauthorized main, conduit, pipe or other structure interferes with the operation of the water, sewerage or stormwater systems, the City may order it removed.