Monterey Municipal Code Art. 3 Signs, Signals and Markings

a.The City Traffic Engineer 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 to make effective the provisions of this Chapter.

b.Whenever the Vehicle Code of the state requires for the effectiveness of any provision of this Chapter that traffic control devices be installed to give notice to the public of the application of such law, the Traffic Engineer 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 Traffic Engineer may also place and maintain or cause to be placed and maintained such additional traffic control devices as he may deem necessary or property to regulate traffic or to guide or warn traffic, but he shall make such determination only upon the basis of traffic engineering principles and traffic investigations 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.

The Traffic Engineer 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.

No provision of the Vehicle Code of the state or of this Chapter for which signs are required shall be enforced against an alleged violator unless appropriate legible signs are in place giving notice of such provisions of the traffic laws.

The operator of any vehicle or train shall obey the instructions of any official traffic control device placed in accordance with this Chapter unless otherwise directed by a police officer or other authorized person subject to the exceptions granted the operator of an emergency vehicle when responding to emergency calls.

a.The City Traffic Engineer 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 Traffic Engineer shall ascertain and determine the locations where such signals are required by field investigations, traffic counts and other traffic information as may be pertinent, and his determinations therefrom shall be made in accordance with those traffic engineering and safety standards and instructions set forth in the California Maintenance Manual issued by the Division of Highway of the State Department of Public Works.

c.Whenever the Traffic Engineer installs and maintains an official traffic signal at any intersection, he 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 such intersection.

The Traffic Engineer is authorized to regulate the timing of traffic signals so as to permit the movement of traffic in an orderly and safe manner at speeds slightly at variance from the speeds otherwise applicable within the district or at intersections, and shall erect appropriate signs giving notice thereof.

The Traffic Engineer 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.

The Traffic Engineer is authorized to place and maintain distinctive roadway markings as described in the Vehicle Code of the state 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 markings. 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 Vehicle Code of the State.

The Traffic Engineer is hereby authorized to remove, relocate or discontinue the operation of any traffic control device not specifically required by the Vehicle Code of the state or this Chapter whenever he shall determine in any particular case that the conditions which warranted or required the installation no longer exist or obtain.

a.The Traffic Engineer is hereby authorized, subject to the provisions and limitations of this Chapter, to place, and when required shall place, the following curb markings to indicate parking or standing regulations, and such curb markings shall have the meaning as set forth as follows:

1.Red shall mean no stopping, standing or parking at any time except as permitted by the Vehicle Code of the state, and except that a bus may stop in a red zone marked or signed as a bus zone.

2.Yellow shall mean no stopping, standing or parking at any time between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. of any day, except Sundays and holidays, for any purpose other than the loading or unloading of passengers or materials; provided, that the loading or unloading of passengers shall not consume more than three minutes nor the loading or unloading of materials more than 20 minutes.

3.White shall mean no stopping, standing or parking for any purpose other than loading or unloading of passengers, which shall not exceed three minutes, and such restrictions shall apply between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. of any day except Sundays and holidays, and except as follows:

i.When such zone is in front of a hotel the restrictions shall apply at all times.

ii.When such zone is in front of a theater the restrictions shall apply at all times.

4.Blue shall mean parking is limited exclusively to vehicles of physically handicapped persons.

b.When the Traffic Engineer as authorized under this Section has caused curb markings to be placed, no person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle adjacent to any such legible curb markings in violation of any of the provisions of this Section.

No person, unless authorized by this City, shall paint any street or curb surface; provided, that this Section shall not apply to the painting of numbers on a curb surface by any person who has complied with the provisions of any resolution or ordinance of this City pertaining thereto.