Visalia Municipal Code Art. 1 Traffic Control Devices

A. The city manager shall have the power and the 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 city manager 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 manager may also place and maintain or cause to place and maintain 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 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. (Prior code § 3003(a))

No provisions of the Vehicle Code or of this chapter 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 laws. (Prior code § 3003(b))

The operator of any vehicle or train shall obey the instructions of any official traffic control device placed in accordance with 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. (Prior code § 3003(c))

A. The city manager is 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 city manager shall ascertain and determine the locations where such signals are required by field investigation, 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 California Maintenance Manual issued by the Division of Highways of the State Department of Public Works.

C. Whenever the city manager 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 any said intersection. (Prior code § 3003(d))

The city manager is 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. (Prior code § 3003(c))

The city manager is authorized to place and maintain distinctive roadway markings as described in the Vehicle Code of 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 marking or signs and marking shall have the same effect as similar markings place by the State Department of Public Works pursuant to provisions of the Vehicle Code. (Prior code § 3003(f))

The city manager is authorized to remove, relocate or discontinue the operation of any traffic control device 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. (Prior code § 3003(g))

The city manager 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. (Prior code § 3003(h))

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. (Prior code § 3003(i))

The city manager is authorized to regulate the timing of traffic signals so as to permit the movement of traffic in an orderly and safe manner at speeds slightly at variance from the speeds otherwise applicable within the district or at intersections, and shall erect appropriate signs giving notice thereof. (Prior code § 3014)