Hercules Municipal Code Art. 3 Enforcement And Obedience To Traffic Regulations

(a) It shall be the duty of police officers authorized to perform police duties in the City of Hercules to enforce within the City of Hercules all traffic and vehicle laws of the city and state.

(b) Police officers authorized to perform police duties in the City of Hercules are hereby authorized to direct all traffic by voice, hand or other signal in conformity with traffic laws, provided that in the event of a fire or other emergency or to expedite traffic or to safeguard pedestrians, such police officers or fire department personnel may direct traffic as conditions may require, notwithstanding provisions to the contrary contained in this Chapter or the Vehicle Code.

(c) At places where large numbers of people and vehicles are to gather, or have gathered, nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to prevent any police officer authorized to perform police duties in the City of Hercules from prohibiting any person from parking any vehicle upon or using any street or sidewalk, or from prohibiting any pedestrian from using any street or sidewalk, and such police officer shall have authority to direct the parking of vehicles in any reasonable manner, way or direction. It shall be unlawful for any person to fail to promptly obey any such police officer's order, signal or command, regardless of any other provision of this Chapter.

No person other than a police officer authorized to perform police duties in the City of Hercules or fire department personnel or other person authorized by law shall direct, or attempt to direct, traffic by voice, hand or other signal, except that persons may operate, when and as provided in this Chapter, any mechanical pushbutton signal erected pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter.

No person shall fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order, signal or direction of a police officer authorized to perform police duties in the City of Hercules or of fire department personnel or of other persons authorized by law, or to perform any act forbidden thereby.

It shall be an infraction for any person to do any act forbidden or declared unlawful or fail to perform any act required by sections 3-4.301(c), 3-4.308, 3-4.403, 3-4.407, 3-4.501(b), 3-4.503, 3-4.504, 3-4.702, 3-4.801 – 3-4.804, inclusive, 3-4.806 – 3-4.811, inclusive, 3-4.904, 3-4.1002 – 3-4.1016, inclusive, 3-4.1018, 3-4.1102 – 3-4.1106, inclusive, 3-4.1202 – 3-4.1207, inclusive, 3-4.1301(b), 3-4.1302, 3-4.1501 and 3-4.1502 of this Chapter; it shall be a misdemeanor for any person to do any act forbidden or declared unlawful or fail to perform any act required by any other section of this Chapter, unless otherwise provided by the Vehicle Code of the State of California.

It shall be unlawful for any person to interfere with or obstruct in any way any police officer authorized to perform police duties in the City of Hercules or any other authorized person in his enforcement of the provisions of this Chapter. The removal, obliteration or concealment of any chalk mark or other distinguishing mark used by such police officer or other authorized person in connection with the enforcement of the parking regulations of this Chapter, if done for the purpose of evading such regulations, shall constitute such interference or obstruction.

(a) The provisions of this Chapter regulating the operation, parking and standing of vehicles shall not apply to vehicles operated by the Police or Fire Department, any public ambulance or any public utility vehicle or any private ambulance, which public utility or private ambulance has qualified as an authorized emergency vehicle, when any vehicle mentioned in this section is operated in the manner specified by the Vehicle Code in response to an emergency call.

(b) The foregoing exemptions shall not, however, relieve the operator of any such vehicle from obligation to exercise due care for the safety of others or the consequences of his willful disregard of the safety of others.

(c) The provisions of this Chapter regulating the parking or standing of vehicles shall not apply to any vehicle of a city department or public utility while necessarily in use for construction or repair work or any vehicle owned or operated by the United States Post Office Department while in use for the collection, transportation or delivery of United States mail.

(a) The operator of a vehicle or the person in charge of any animal involved in any accident resulting in damage to any property publicly owned or owned by a public utility, including but not limited to any fire hydrant, parking meter, lighting post, telephone pole, electric light or power pole, or resulting in damage to any tree, traffic control device or other property of a like nature located in or along any street, shall within twenty-four (24) hours after such accident make a written report of such accident to the Police Department of this city.

(b) Every such report shall state the time when and the place where the accident took place, the name and address of the person owning and of the person operating or in charge of such vehicle or animal, the license number of every such vehicle, and shall briefly describe the property damage in such accident.

(c) The operator of any vehicle involved in an accident shall not be subject to the requirements or penalties of this section if and during the time he is physically incapable of making a report, but in such event he shall make a report as required in subdivision (a) within 24 hours after regaining ability to make such report.

Any police officer authorized to perform police duties in the City of Hercules may remove or cause to be removed:

(a) Any vehicle that has been parked or left standing upon a street or highway for 72 or more consecutive hours.

(b) Any vehicle which is parked or left standing upon a street or highway between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. when such parking or standing is prohibited by ordinance or resolution of this city and signs are posted giving notice of such removal.

(c) Any vehicle which is parked or left standing upon a street or highway where the use of such street or highway or a portion thereof is necessary for the cleaning, repair or construction of the street or highway or for the installation of underground utilities or where the use of the street or highway or any portion thereof is authorized for a purpose other than the normal flow of traffic or where the use of the street or highway or any portion thereof is necessary for the movement of equipment, articles or structures of unusual size, and the parking of such vehicle would prohibit or interfere with such use or movement; provided that signs giving notice that such vehicle may be removed are erected or placed at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the removal.

All police officers authorized to perform police duties in the City of Hercules are hereby authorized when necessary to clear any street or other public place open to vehicular travel of any and all vehicles left standing thereon, whether occupied or unoccupied, and to that end, such officers are authorized to move such vehicles to some convenient place. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to authorize the tampering with any lock or other lawful device upon any vehicle, or breaking the glass or other parts.

Such police officers are hereby authorized to request the driver or person in charge of any vehicle to move any vehicle which has been parked in violation of any section of this Chapter, or any section of the Vehicle Code relative to parked vehicles, and it is hereby declared to be unlawful to fail to promptly obey such police officer's order, signal, or command regardless of any other provision of this Chapter.

The provisions of this Chapter shall apply to the driver of any vehicle owned by or used in the service of the United States government, this state, or any county, city, district or other public entity or corporation, and it shall be unlawful for any such driver to violate any of the provisions of this Chapter except as otherwise permitted in this Chapter or by the Vehicle Code.