Chapter 12.20 — TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES AND MARKINGS

A. Traffic Engineer Authorized. The City Traffic Engineer shall have the exclusive 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. Installation. Whenever this Code or 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 Traffic Engineer is hereby authorized
to install the necessary devices subject to any limitations or restrictions set forth in the law
applicable thereto.

C. Standard For Installation. The City Traffic Engineer may also place and maintain such
additional traffic control devices as he may deem necessary to regulate traffic or to guide
or warn traffic, but he shall make such installations only upon the basis of traffic
investigations and in accordance with sound traffic engineering principles. All such
installations shall be in accordance with the standards that may be set forth in this chapter
or by ordinance or resolution of the City Council.

D. Emergency and Experimental Regulation. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this
chapter, when it is reasonably necessary to facilitate the movement of traffic and prevent
pedestrian and vehicular congestion of the City streets, the City Traffic Engineer is
authorized to establish emergency and experimental regulations to control the direction and
movement of traffic, including establishing one-way streets, changing the direction of
travel on one-way streets otherwise established, and installing and maintaining signals,
signs and other devices to indicate the regulations so established. The emergency and
experimental regulations established by the City Traffic Engineer shall be effective only
during the time such signals, signs or other devices are installed and maintained to give
public notice of such regulations, and in no event for more than ninety days.
(1949 Code § 3238 as amended by Ord. 888, 1959; Ord. 2023-22 § 536, 2023)

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. No vehicle may be towed or removed from private property unless that property is posted with signs as required by California Vehicle Code Section 22658. (1949 Code § 3239; Ord. 83-9 § 1, 1983; Ord. 2023-22 § 537, 2023)

The driver of any vehicle shall obey the instructions of any official traffic control device applicable thereto placed in accordance with the traffic regulations of this City unless otherwise directed by a police officer and subject to the exceptions granted the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle when responding to emergency calls. (1949 Code § 3240 as amended by Ord. 1069, 1963)

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City of Newport Beach, CA § 12.20.040 VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC § 12.20.080

The City Traffic Engineer is hereby authorized to install and maintain official traffic control 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 to prevent or relieve traffic congestion or to protect life or property from exceptional hazard.

The City Traffic Engineer shall ascertain and determine the locations where such signals are required by resorting to field observation, traffic counts and other traffic information as may be pertinent and the determinations therefrom shall be made in accordance with those traffic engineering and safety standards and instructions set forth in the “California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices,” issued by the California Department of Transportation. (1949 Code § 3241; Ord. 2023-22 § 538, 2023)

The City 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. When authorized signs have been placed designating off-center traffic lanes, no person shall disobey the instructions given by such signs. (1949 Code § 3242)

The City Traffic Engineer is hereby authorized to remove, relocate or discontinue the operation of any traffic control device not specifically required by State law by the provisions of this chapter, wherever the City Traffic Engineer shall determine in any particular case that the conditions which warranted or required the installation no longer exist. (1949 Code § 3243; Ord. 2023-22 § 539, 2023)

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 chapter. (1949 Code § 3244)

No person, unless authorized by this City, 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 an person who has complied with the provisions of any resolution or ordinance of this City pertaining thereto. (1949 Code § 3244.1; Ord. 1069 (part), 1963)

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City of Newport Beach, CA § 12.24.010 VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC § 12.24.040