Turlock Municipal Code Art. 3 Traffic Control Devices

(a) The 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 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 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 proper to regulate traffic or to guide or warn traffic, but 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 law.

No provision of the Vehicle Code or of this chapter for which signs are required shall be forced 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 or signal placed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, 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) Subject to the approval of the expenditure therefor, 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) The Traffic Engineer shall ascertain and determine the locations where such signals are required by field investigation, traffic counts, or 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 Highways of the Department of Public Works of the State.

(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 clearly visible to traffic approaching from all directions, unless such street name signs have previously been placed and are maintained at such intersection.

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 hereby authorized to place and maintain 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 markings or signs and markings. Such markings or signs and markings shall have the same effect as similar makings placed by the Department of Public Works of the State pursuant to the provisions of the Vehicle Code.

The Traffic Engineer is hereby authorized to remove, relocate, or discontinue the operation of any traffic control device or signal not specifically required by the Vehicle Code 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; provided, however, the operation of any signal shall not be permanently discontinued, and a signal shall not be permanently removed, without the approval of the Council.

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

No person, unless authorized by the Traffic Engineer, shall paint any street or curb surface; provided, however, the provisions of 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 law of the City pertaining thereto.