Westminster Municipal Code Ch. 10.20 Traffic-Control Devices

A. The city 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 article.

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 traffic engineer 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 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 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.

(Prior code § 3410 § 4)

No provision of the Vehicle Code or of this article 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 § 3410 § 4.1)

A. The city traffic engineer 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 traffic engineer 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 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 any said intersection.

(Prior code § 3410 § 4.3)

The city traffic engineer is authorized to mark centerlines 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 centerline of the highway.

(Prior code § 3410 § 4.3)

The city traffic engineer is 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 markings placed by the Department of Transportation pursuant to provisions of the Vehicle Code.

(Prior code § 3410 § 4.5; Ord. 1870 § 3, 1978)

The city traffic engineer is authorized to remove, relocate or discontinue the operation of any traffic-control device not specifically required by the Vehicle Code or this article whenever he determines in any particular case that the conditions which warranted or required the installation no longer exist or obtain.

(Prior code § 3410 § 4.6)

The city traffic 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 in this article.

(Prior code § 3410 § 4.7)

A. No person shall paint any street or curb surface unless authorized by the city, except for painting of house numbers on a curb surface by a person who has complied with the provisions of subparagraph (b) herein.

B. In order to paint numbers on curbs, a person must meet all of the following conditions:

1. Obtain a police permit from the Westminster Police Department;

2. Post a performance bond with the city clerk in the amount of Five hundred dollars;

3. Permits shall be issued only to Westminster non-profit organizations for the benefit of those organizations;

4. The public works director shall be contacted prior to commencing the work and immediately upon completion of the project;

5. No work or soliciting between the hours from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise (Westminster Municipal Code § 5.24.210);

6. Type of numbers to be three-inch (3") block numbers;

7. Black paint shall be used over white background;

8. All numbers in tract or area to be painted, including those from whom no donation is received;

9. Solicitation to be made after painting;

10. Occupants of house to be informed work is free and a maximum amount for donation shall be established by the city manager subject to 15 days appeal to the city council;

11. Any complaints received from occupants will be reported to city clerk, with the address and substance of the complaint; and

12. The painting shall only be on curbs located on open public streets and not on private streets or gated public streets.

(Prior code § 3410 § 4.8; Ord. 2120 § 1, 1989; Ord. 2362 § 49, 2003)