El Monte Municipal Code Ch. 10.28 Bicycles

Any device upon which a person may ride, which is propelled by human power through a system of belts, chains or gears and which has wheels at least twenty (20) inches in diameter and a frame size of at least fourteen (14) inches.

(Prior code § 3400)

A. Every person riding or operating a bicycle shall be subject to all provisions of the Vehicle Code of the state and to all provisions of this code regulating vehicles or vehicular traffic except as to special regulations of said Vehicle Code or of this code which, by their nature, can have no application.

B. Every person operating a bicycle shall obey the lawful order, signal or direction of a Traffic or Police Officer and shall also obey the instructions of official traffic signals, signs and other control devices applicable to vehicles, unless otherwise directed by a Police Officer.

C. Whenever authorized signs are erected indicating that no right or left or "U" turn is permitted, no operator of a bicycle shall disobey the direction of such signs, except where such person dismounts from the bicycle to make any such turn, in which event such person shall then obey the regulations applicable to pedestrians.

(Prior code § 3401)

A. No person shall ride or propel any bicycle upon or across any public sidewalk within a business district of the city except in such cases and in such places as motor vehicles may lawfully be operated thereon.

(Prior code § 3402)

A. No person shall own, ride, propel, or be in possession of any bicycle which is not registered and identified as provided in this chapter, or which does not bear a license plate as required by and issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter; provided, however, that bicycles in the possession of persons engaged in the business of buying or selling new or used bicycles need not be licensed or registered while in their possession. Such bicycles shall be licensed and registered if they are rented, leased, loaned or sold on conditional sales contract to other persons, or are used or ridden by persons other than for the purpose of demonstration.

B. Time for Licensing and Registering. Any person buying a bicycle within the city, or bringing a bicycle into the city, or owning, using or possessing a bicycle in the city, shall, personally or by agent, within ten (10) days after such bicycle is thus purchased, brought into, owned, used or possessed in the city, and in any event before such bicycle is ridden or propelled within the city, make application for the registration thereof and cause the same to be sufficiently identified and licensed as provided in this chapter.

C. Application for License and Registration. Application for such license and registration shall be made to the Chief of Police at the Police Department of the city. At the time such application is made, the applicant must have with him or her the bicycle concerning which application is made and shall present satisfactory proof of ownership of such vehicle.

D. Inspection of Bicycles. The Chief of Police shall cause inspection to be made of the bicycle for which application is thus made, and shall refuse to register and issue a license for the same if it is unsafe or unfit mechanically.

E. Procedure for Registration and Licensing. The Chief of Police, after the inspection of the bicycle as hereinabove provided, shall unless he or she finds the same to be an unsafe or unfit mechanical condition:

1. Issue a license indicium prescribed by the State of California, Department of Motor Vehicles;

2. Affix the same or cause the same to be affixed to such bicycle frame in a conspicuous place;

3. Cause the same to be registered by completing three (3) cards containing the description of the bicycle, including the serial number of the bicycle, the make, type, and model of the bicycle, and the name and address of the licensee as well as the indicium number and any identifying number stamped upon or otherwise affixed by him or her to such bicycle, and any other or further information deemed by him or her to be necessary or advisable;

4. Issue one of such cards to the applicant and retain the other two (2) for use by the Police Department.

F. Registration Fees. There shall be no fee charged to the applicant for each application for registration of a bicycle or for each application for a renewal of registration for any reason. In the event any license indicium and registration card, or either of them, is or becomes lost, stolen, mutilated or illegible, the owner of the bicycle for which the same were or was issued shall immediately make application for a new license and registration card in the same manner as in the case of a first application. Upon re-registering a bicycle, the Chief of Police shall make new registration cards and shall issue a new registration card to the applicant and issue and affix to the bicycle a new indicium number and may destroy the old registration cards.

G. Expiration of License. The first license issued after December 31, 1974, shall expire on December 31, 1978. Thereafter, all licenses will be issued for a three (3) year period.

H. Registration File. The Chief of Police shall install and maintain a complete filing system containing a record of all applications for the registration of bicycles and containing all of the information required on the application.

I. Maintenance of Licenses. Every license plate issued pursuant to this chapter shall, by the owner of the bicycle for which such license has been issued, be kept free from dirt or foreign material and in a condition to be clearly legible, and shall remain affixed to the bicycle for which it was issued so long as such bicycle is owned by such person in the city.

(Prior code §§ 3403—3403.9)

Every person in the city who sells or trades any bicycle licensed or registered in accordance with the terms of this chapter, or which was required to have been thus licensed or registered, shall within ten (10) days after such transfer of ownership report such transfer to the Chief of Police and surrender to him or her the registration card concerning such bicycle, if one were issued to him or her. Such report of sale and surrender of registration card may be made by the purchaser of such bicycle by surrendering to the Police Department the registration card of such former owner endorsed on the reverse side thereof.

(Prior code § 3404)

A rental agency shall not rent or offer for rent any bicycle unless it is registered and licensed and a license plate is attached thereto as provided for in this chapter, and such bicycle must be equipped with the lamps and other equipment required by this code, or by the laws of the state.

(Prior code § 3405)

No person shall remove, destroy, mutilate or alter any identifying number stamped or otherwise affixed to any bicycle, or remove, destroy, alter or mutilate any license plate or registration card issued or affixed pursuant to this chapter. Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the Chief of Police from stamping or otherwise affixing numbers, letters, names or symbols on or to any bicycle on which no serial or other identifying number of symbol can be found, for identification purposes, nor prohibit him or her from stamping any other or additional numbers, names, letters or symbols as may be necessary upon the registration or re-registration of any bicycle.

(Prior code § 3406)

No person shall park a bicycle upon a street other than upon the roadway against the curb, or upon a sidewalk in a rack to support the bicycle, or against a building or at the curb in such manner as to afford the least obstruction to pedestrian traffic.

(Prior code § 3407)

Whenever a usable path for bicycles has been provided adjacent to a roadway, bicycle riders shall use such path and shall not use the roadway.

(Prior code § 3408)

No person under the age of eighteen (18) years shall buy, sell, or trade any bicycle frame, or other parts thereof, without the written consent of his or her parent or legal guardian.

(Prior code § 3409)

No parent shall cause or permit their child or ward to violate any portion of the provisions outlined in this chapter.

(Prior code § 3410)

It shall be the duty of any person finding any bicycle, frame, or part thereof, to immediately notify the Police Department of its location, and to turn the same over to such agency.

(Prior code § 3411)

Whenever the owner of a bicycle licensed pursuant to this chapter changes his or her home address, he or she shall within ten (10) days notify the Police Department.

(Prior code § 3412)