Hercules Municipal Code Art. 8 Miscellaneous Rules

No operator of any vehicle shall drive between the vehicles comprising a funeral procession or a parade while they are in motion and when such vehicles are conspicuously so designated. The directing of all vehicles and traffic on any street over which such funeral procession or parade wishes to pass shall be subject to the orders of the Police Department.

No person shall attach himself with his hands, or catch on to, or hold on to with his hands or by other means, to any moving vehicle or train for the purpose of receiving motive power therefrom.

No person shall operate or drive a commercial vehicle in, on or across any private driveway approach or sidewalk area or the driveway itself without the consent of the owner or occupant of the property if a sign or markings are in place indicating that the use of such driveway is prohibited. For the purposes of this section, a commercial vehicle shall mean a vehicle having a rated capacity in excess of one-half ton.

It shall be unlawful for any person to ride, drive, propel, or cause to be propelled, any vehicle or animal across or upon any sidewalk, excepting over permanently constructed driveways and excepting when it is necessary for any temporary purpose to drive a loaded vehicle across a sidewalk. Such sidewalk area shall be adequately protected by wooden planks, and written permission therefor shall be previously obtained from the Director of Public Works. Such wooden planks shall not be permitted to remain upon such sidewalk area during the hours from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.

It shall be unlawful for any person to park any flammable liquid vehicle or any vehicle containing explosives on any public street within the city.

No person shall ride or drive any animal or vehicle over or across any newly made pavement or freshly painted marking in any street when a barrier, sign, cone-marker, or other warning device is in place warning persons not to drive over or across such pavement or marking, or when a sign is in place stating that the street or any portion thereof is closed, or where barricades have been erected.

No person shall drive a vehicle onto or from any limited access roadway except at such entrances and exits as are established by public authority.

No person, public utility or public agency shall erect or place in any street any barrier or sign except of a type approved by the Director of Public Works. It shall be unlawful for any vehicle operator or pedestrian to disobey the instructions of any such approved barrier or sign and for any person to remove, tamper with or destroy any such barrier or sign lawfully placed.

No operator of any vehicle shall enter any intersection or a marked crosswalk unless there is sufficient space on the other side of the intersection or crosswalk to accommodate the vehicle he is operating without obstructing the passage of other vehicles or pedestrians, notwithstanding any traffic-control signal indication to proceed.

No person shall stand in any roadway other than in a safety zone or in a crosswalk if such action interferes with the lawful movement of traffic. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any public officer or employee, or employee of a public utility when necessarily upon a street in line of duty.

(a) No person shall ride upon a skateboard, roller skates, coaster, toy vehicle or propel any such device upon any City street or upon any City sidewalk along any street which fronts, abuts or adjoins any property zoned "C" Commercial.

(b) Riding or propelling a skateboard, roller skates, coaster or other similar devices at locations other than the Hercules Skate Park shall be undertaken in an upright position and it shall be unlawful for any person to ride any such device in a prone, crouching or other than upright position.

(c) It shall be unlawful for any person to ride upon a skateboard, roller skates, coasters, toy vehicle or propel similar devices at the Hercules Skate Park without wearing a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads that are the proper size.

(d) The City Manager or the City Manager's designee is hereby authorized to prohibit the use of roller skates, skateboards, coasters and toy vehicles and to erect signs prohibiting said use, on any publicly-owned street, park, sidewalk or property where the City Manager or the City Manager's designee determines that such use would interfere with traffic, create a hazard to public health, safety or welfare, or otherwise interfere with the public convenience. The City Manager or the City Manager's designee is further authorized, with the prior consent of the property owner, (1) to prohibit the use of roller skates, skateboards, coasters and toy vehicles on any privately-owned property if the City Manager or the City Manager's designee determines that such use would interfere with traffic, create a hazard to public health, safety or welfare, or otherwise interfere with the public convenience and (2) to erect signs prohibiting such use.

(e) Violation of this section is an infraction punishable as prescribed in Title 1, Chapter 4 of the Hercules Municipal Code.

(Ord. 234 Div. 1, 1986; Ord. 356 Div. 1, 2000; Ord. 383 §§ 1, 203)

On property at any corner formed by intersecting streets, it shall be unlawful to install, set out or maintain, or to allow the installation, setting out or maintenance of any sign, hedge, shrubbery, natural growth or other obstruction to the view, higher than three (3) feet above the level of the center of the adjacent intersection within that triangular area between the property line and a diagonal line joining points on property lines twenty-five (25) feet from the point of their intersection, or in the case of rounded corners, the triangular area between the tangents to the curve and a diagonal line joining points on said tangent twenty-five (25) feet from the point of their intersection. The tangents referred to are those at the beginning and at the end of the curve at the corner.

The provisions of Section 3-4.812 shall not apply to permanent buildings, public utility poles, trees trimmed (to the trunk) to a line at least eight (8) feet above the level of the intersection; saplings, or plant species of open growth habits and not planted in the form of a hedge, which are so planted and trimmed as to leave at all seasons a clear and unobstructed cross-view; supporting members of appurtenances to permanent buildings existing on the date this Chapter becomes effective; official warning signs or signals; to places where the contour of the ground is such that there can be no cross-visibility at the intersection; or to signs mounted ten (10) feet or more above the ground and whose supports do not constitute an obstruction as defined in Section 3-4.812.

Any obstruction maintained in violation of Section 3-4.812 shall be deemed a public nuisance. The Public Works Administrator shall initiate abatement proceedings to remove the obstruction as provided in Section 4-10.01.

(Ord. 253 Div. 1 (Art. 3)

No obstruction to cross-visibility shall be deemed to be excepted from the application of this Chapter because of its being in existence at the time of the adoption hereof, unless expressly exempted by the terms of this Chapter.

(a) No person operating or driving a motor vehicle within the City limits shall accelerate said motor vehicle: (1) to cause audible noise by tire friction on pavement or road surface, or (2) to cause loss of traction between the tires of said vehicle and the pavement or road surface, or (3) to cause said vehicle to skid or otherwise lose or diminish control, or (4) to cause the tires of said vehicle to leave skid or other marks upon the pavement or other road surface, except where acceleration otherwise prohibited by subsection (a)(1), (2), (3), or (4) of this Section is reasonably necessary to avoid a collision.

(b) Penalties. It is a misdemeanor for any person to violate the provisions of this Section. Every person convicted of a misdemeanor for violating this Section shall be punished as follows:

(1) For a first conviction, by a fine not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) and not greater than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00).

(2) For a second or subsequent conviction, by imprisonment for no longer than six (6) months, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both such fine and imprisonment.

(Ord. 433 § 1, 2007)