Watsonville Municipal Code Art. 4 Traffic Control Devices

(a) The City 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 by the traffic laws of the City to make effective the provisions of such laws.

(b) 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 City Engineer is hereby authorized to install the necessary devices, subject to any limitations or restrictions set forth in the laws applicable thereto.

(c) The City 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 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 the traffic laws of the City or as may be determined by ordinance or resolution of the Council.

(§ 1, Art. IV, Ord. 486 N.C.S.)

No provision of the 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.

(§ 2, Art. IV, Ord. 486 N.C.S.)

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

(§ 3, Art. IV, Ord. 486 N.C.S.)

(a) The City 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 City Engineer shall ascertain and determine the locations where such signals are required by use of field observations, traffic counts and other traffic information as may be pertinent, and said Engineer’s determinations therefrom shall be made in accordance with those traffic engineering and safety standards and instructions set forth in the most current Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), as amended by the California supplement, Part 4—Highway Traffic Signals.

(§ 4, Art. IV, Ord. 486 N.C.S., as amended by Ord. 575 N.C.S., § 1, Ord. 1180-04 C-M, eff. November 26, 2004)

The City 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.

(§ 5, Art. IV, Ord. 486 N.C.S.)

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

(§ 6, Art. IV, Ord. 486 N.C.S.)

The City 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 by the provisions of this chapter.

(§ 7, Art. IV, Ord. 486 N.C.S.)