Pacifica Municipal Code Art. 4 Traffic Control Devices

(a) Chapter authorization. The Traffic Engineer shall have the power and duty to place and maintain, or cause to be placed and maintained, traffic control devices when and as required by the provisions of this chapter to make effective such provisions.

(b) Vehicle Code authorization. Whenever the Vehicle Code of the State 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 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 laws applicable thereto.

(c) Other. 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 to regulate traffic or to guide or warn traffic; provided, however, he shall make such determinations 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.

(§ 60, Ord. 125)

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 signs giving notice of such provisions of the traffic laws are in place and sufficiently legible to be seen by an ordinarily observant person.

(§ 61, Ord. 125)

The driver of every vehicle shall obey the instructions of any official traffic control device applicable thereto placed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter unless otherwise directed by a police officer, subject, however, to the exceptions granted the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle when responding to emergency calls.

(§ 62, Ord. 125)

(a) Authority to install and maintain. The 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) Determination of locations. The Traffic Engineer shall ascertain and determine the locations where such signals are required by resort to field observation, traffic counts, and other traffic information as may be pertinent, and his determinations therefrom shall be made in accordance with the traffic engineering and safety standards and instructions set forth in the Planning Manual of Instructions, Part 8, "Traffic", issued by the Division of Highways of the Department of Public Works of the State.

(c) Street name signs. 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 principle flow of traffic unless such street name signs have previously been placed and are maintained at any such intersection.

(§ 63, Ord. 125)

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.

(§ 64, Ord. 125)

The Traffic Engineer is hereby 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 markings or signs and markings. Such markings or signs shall have the same effect as similar markings placed by the Department of Public Works of the State pursuant to the provisions of said Vehicle Code.

(§ 65, Ord. 125)

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

(§ 66, Ord. 125)

The Traffic Engineer shall determine the hours and days during which any traffic control device shall be in operation or effect, except in those cases where such hours or days are set forth in this chapter.

(§ 67, Ord. 125)