Fremont Municipal Code Art. III Traffic-Control Devices

(a) The city manager shall have the power and duty to place and maintain or cause to be placed and maintained official traffic-control devices when and as required under this chapter to make effective the provisions of this chapter.

(b) Whenever the California Vehicle Code requires for the effectiveness of any provision thereof that traffic-control devices be installed to give notice to the public of the application of such law, the city manager is hereby authorized to install or cause to be installed the necessary devices subject to any limitations or restrictions set forth in the law applicable thereto.

(c) The city manager may also place and maintain or cause to be placed and maintained such additional traffic-control devices as he/she may deem necessary to regulate traffic or to guide or warn traffic, but he/she shall make such determination only upon the basis of traffic engineering principles and traffic investigation and in accordance with such standards, limitations and rules as may be set forth in this chapter or as may be determined by ordinance or resolution of the city council. (Ord. 58 § 3-2300; amended during 2012 reformat. 1990 Code § 3-2300.)

No provision of the California Vehicle Code or of this chapter for which signs are required shall be enforced against an alleged violator unless appropriate signs are in place and sufficiently legible to be seen by an ordinarily observant person, giving notice of such provisions of the traffic laws. (Ord. 58 § 3-2301. 1990 Code § 3-2301.)

The driver of any vehicle shall obey the instructions of any official traffic-control device applicable thereto placed in accordance with this chapter unless otherwise directed by a police officer subject to the exceptions granted the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle when responding to emergency calls. (Ord. 58 § 3-2302. 1990 Code § 3-2302.)

(a) The city manager is hereby directed to install and maintain official traffic signals at those intersections and other places where traffic conditions are such as to require that the flow of traffic be alternately interrupted and released in order to prevent or relieve traffic congestion or to protect life or property from exceptional hazard.

(b) The city manager shall ascertain and determine the locations where such signals are required by resort to field observation, traffic counts, and other traffic information as may be pertinent and his/her determinations therefrom shall be made in accordance with those traffic engineering and safety standards and instructions set forth in the Planning Manual of Instructions, Part 8, “Traffic,” issued by the Division of Highways of the State Department of Public Works.

(c) Whenever the city manager installs and maintains an official traffic signal at any intersection, he/she shall likewise erect and maintain at such intersection street name signs visible to the principal flow of traffic unless such street name signs have previously been placed and are maintained at any such intersection.

(d) No official traffic-control signals shall be installed until consent is obtained by resolution from the city council. (Ord. 58 § 3-2303; amended during 2012 reformat. 1990 Code § 3-2303.)

The city manager is hereby authorized, subject to any limitations or restrictions set forth in the law applicable thereto, to install or cause to be installed a yield right-of-way sign at or near any intersection of a traffic lane which separates from the main-traveled lane or lanes in order to facilitate right turns into an intersecting thoroughfare and which right turn lane intersects with the thoroughfare at other than a right angle; provided, that this authorization does not apply with respect to any such right turn lane which enters the intersecting thoroughfare into a lane on such thoroughfare which, at the point of intersection, is not available to other traffic on that thoroughfare which has not entered from the right turn lane as aforesaid. (Ord. 614 § 1. 1990 Code § 3-2303.5.)

The city manager is hereby authorized to mark center lines and lane lines upon the surface of the roadway to indicate the course to be traveled by vehicles and may place signs temporarily designating lanes to be used by traffic moving in a particular direction, regardless of the center line of the highway. (Ord. 58 § 3-2304. 1990 Code § 3-2304.)

The city manager is authorized to place and maintain distinctive roadway markings as described in the California Vehicle Code on those streets or parts of streets where the volume of traffic or the vertical or other curvature of the roadway renders it hazardous to drive on the left side of such marking or signs and marking. Such marking or signs and marking shall have the same effect as similar markings placed by the State Department of Public Works pursuant to provisions of the California Vehicle Code. (Ord. 58 § 3-2305. 1990 Code § 3-2305.)

The city manager is hereby authorized to remove, relocate, or discontinue the operation of any traffic-control device not specifically required by state law or this chapter whenever the city manager determines in any particular case that the conditions which warranted or required the installation no longer exist. (Ord. 58 § 3-2306; Ord. 2103 § 1, 2-14-95. 1990 Code § 3-2306.)

The city manager shall determine the hours and days during which any traffic-control device shall be in operation or be in effect, except in those cases where such hours or days are specified in this chapter. (Ord. 58 § 3-2307. 1990 Code § 3-2307.)