Richmond Municipal Code Ch. 14.16 Traffic Control Devices

(a) The Director of Public Works 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 Article.

(b) Whenever 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 Director of Public Works 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 Director of Public Works may also place and maintain or cause to be placed and maintained such additional traffic control devices 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 Article or as may be determined by ordinance or resolution of the Council.

No provision of the California Vehicle Code or of this Article for which signs are required shall be enforced against an alleged violation 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 Article 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.

(a) Upon resolution of the Council, the Director of Public Works shall 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 Director of Public Works shall ascertain and determine the locations where such signals are required by field investigation, traffic counts and other traffic information as may be pertinent.

(c) Whenever the Director of Public Works installs and maintains an official traffic signal at any intersection, he shall likewise erect and maintain at such intersection a street name sign clearly visible to traffic approaching from all directions unless such street name signs have been previously placed and are maintained at any said intersection.

(Amended by Ordinance No. 36 N.S.)

The Director of Public Works 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 Director of Public Works is authorized to place and maintain distinctive roadway markings as described in the State 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 markings or signs and markings. Such markings 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 California Vehicle Code.

The Director of Public Works is hereby authorized to remove, relocate or discontinue the operation of any traffic control device not specifically required by the California Vehicle Code or this Article whenever he shall determine in any particular case that the conditions which warranted or required the installation no longer exist or obtain. However, any traffic control device that has been installed pursuant to resolution of the City Council may not be removed without Council approval.

The Director of Public Works 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 Article.

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 any person who has complied with the provisions of any resolution or ordinance of this City pertaining thereto.

No person shall, without lawful authority, attach any foreign objects such as, but not limited to, signs, markers, ropes, wires or chains upon any official traffic sign or signal or street name sign.

(Source: Ordinance No. 1753)