Morro Bay Municipal Code Ch. 10.16 Traffic-Control Devices

A. The city traffic engineer shall have the power and duty to place or cause to be placed official traffic-control devices when and as required to make effective the provisions of this title.

B. Whenever the 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 traffic engineer is 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 traffic engineer may also place or cause to be placed such additional traffic-control devices as he/she may deem necessary or proper 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 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 council.

D. The police chief may also place or cause to be placed temporary traffic-control signs as he/she may deem necessary or proper to regulate traffic or to guide or warn traffic in emergency situations, special events, or other temporary events.

E. It is unlawful for any person to place or maintain any device other than an official warning or directional sign or signal erected under competent authority, on or in view of the street, which purports to be, or is an imitation of, or resembles an official warning or direction sign or signal, or which attempts to direct the movement of traffic or the actions of operators of vehicles; and any such prohibited device shall be a public nuisance and the police department may remove it, or cause it to be removed without notice.

(Ord. No. 548, 5-26-09)

No provision of the Vehicle Code or of this title 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 regulations.

(Ord. No. 548, 5-26-09)

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

(Ord. No. 548, 5-26-09)

A. The city traffic engineer is directed to install 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 traffic engineer shall ascertain and determine the locations where such signals are required by field investigation, input from the city staff traffic advisory committee, 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 Traffic Manual issued by the California Department of Transportation.

C. Whenever the city traffic engineer installs an official traffic signal at any intersection, he/she shall likewise erect 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.

(Ord. No. 548, 5-26-09)

The city traffic engineer is authorized to mark centerlines 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 centerline of the highway.

(Ord. No. 548, 5-26-09)

The city traffic engineer is authorized to place distinctive roadway markings as described in the 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 markings. Such markings or signs and markings shall have the same effect as similar markings placed by the State Department of Transportation pursuant to the provisions of the Vehicle Code.

(Ord. No. 548, 5-26-09)

The city traffic engineer is authorized to remove, relocate or discontinue the operation of any traffic-control device not specifically required by the Vehicle Code or this title whenever he/she shall determine in any particular case that the conditions which warranted or required the installation no longer exist.

(Ord. No. 548, 5-26-09)

The city 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 title.

(Ord. No. 548, 5-26-09)

No person, unless authorized by city traffic engineer, shall paint any street or curb surface; provided, however, 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.

(Ord. No. 548, 5-26-09)

It is unlawful for any person to deface, injure, move or interfere with any official warning or directional signal or sign.

(Ord. No. 548, 5-26-09)