Bill Text: CA AB2128 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Vehicles: automated traffic enforcement systems.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-05-25 - In committee: Set, second hearing. Held under submission. [AB2128 Detail]
Download: California-2011-AB2128-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2128 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Cook
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to amend Sections 21400, 21453, and 21455.7 of, and to add
Section 21455.4 to, the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2128, as introduced, Cook. Vehicles: automated traffic
enforcement systems.
(1) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to
adopt rules and regulations prescribing uniform standards and
specifications for all official traffic control devices, publicize
the specifications for uniform types of warning signs, lights, and
devices to be placed upon a highway, revise the California Manual on
Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), as it read on January 1,
2012, and requires the department or a local authority, in cases in
which the speed limit needs to be rounded up to the nearest 5
mile-per-hour increment of the 85th-percentile speed, to decide to
round down the speed limit to the lower 5 mile-per-hour increment,
but then prohibit it from reducing the speed limit any further for
any reason.
This bill would require the Department of Transportation or local
authority to use the next higher 5 mile-per-hour increment of the
85th-percentile speed to determine the minimum yellow light change
interval for traffic signals when the department or local authority
decides to run down the speed limit to the lower 5 mile-per-hour
increment.
(2) Existing law requires a driver facing a steady circular red
signal alone to stop at a marked limit line, but if none, before
entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or, if
none, then before entering the intersection, and to remain stopped
until an indication to proceed is shown, except as specified. A
violation of this provision is an infraction punishable by a fine of
$100. Existing law authorizes a driver who is facing a steady
circular red signal, after stopping as required, to turn right or
turn left from a one-way street onto a one-way street, except when a
sign is in place prohibiting a turn. A violation of this provision is
generally punishable by a fine of up to $100.
This bill would recast these provisions. The bill would instead
prohibit the driver stopped at the red signal pursuant to these
provisions from proceeding straight through the intersection or
making a left turn, except a left turn from a one-way street onto a
one-way street, until an indication to proceed is shown, a violation
of which would be punishable by a fine of $100. The bill would
authorize a driver stopped at a red signal pursuant to these
provisions to turn right, or turn left from a one-way street onto a
one-way street, except when a sign is in place prohibiting the turn,
a violation of which would be punishable by a fine of up to $100.
(3) Existing law requires, at an intersection at which there is an
automated traffic enforcement system in operation, that the minimum
yellow light change intervals relating to designated approach speeds
provided in the Traffic Manual of the Department of Transportation
are the mandatory minimum yellow light intervals.
This bill would revise and recast these provisions to require a
local governmental agency that operates an automatic traffic
enforcement system to extend the time on the yellow light change
interval by one second beyond the minimum yellow light change
intervals for posted speeds or prima facie speeds as designated
pursuant to the MUTCD, or its successor, and that a citation issued
by a law enforcement agency or authority shall be dismissed if the
previously described yellow light change intervals have not been
established.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 21400 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
21400. (a) (1) The Department of Transportation shall, after
consultation with local agencies and public hearings, adopt rules and
regulations prescribing uniform standards and specifications for all
official traffic control devices placed pursuant to this code,
including, but not limited to, stop signs, yield right-of-way signs,
speed restriction signs, railroad warning approach signs, street name
signs, lines and markings on the roadway, and stock crossing signs
placed pursuant to Section 21364.
(2) The Department of Transportation shall, after notice and
public hearing, determine and publicize the specifications for
uniform types of warning signs, lights, and devices to be placed upon
a highway by a person engaged in performing work that interferes
with or endangers the safe movement of traffic upon that highway.
(3) Only those signs, lights, and devices as are provided for in
this section shall be placed upon a highway to warn traffic of work
that is being performed on the highway.
(4) Control devices or markings installed upon traffic barriers on
or after January 1, 1984, shall conform to the uniform standards and
specifications required by this section.
(b) The Department of Transportation shall revise the California
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, as it read on January 1,
2012, to require the Department of Transportation or a local
authority to round speed limits to the nearest five miles per hour of
the 85th percentile of the free-flowing traffic. However, in cases
in which the speed limit needs to be rounded up to the nearest five
miles per hour increment of the 85th-percentile speed, the Department
of Transportation or a local authority may decide to instead round
down the speed limit to the lower five miles per hour increment, but
then the Department of Transportation or a local authority shall not
reduce the speed limit any further for any reason.
(c) If the Department of Transportation or a local authority
decides to round down the speed limit to the lower five miles per
hour increment as permitted in subdivision (b), the department or
local authority shall use the next higher five miles per hour
increment of the 85th-percentile speed to determine the minimum
yellow change interval for traffic signals upon that section of
roadway.
SEC. 2. Section 21453 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
21453. (a) A driver facing a steady circular red signal alone
shall stop at a marked limit line, but if none, before entering the
crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or, if none, then
before entering the intersection, and shall remain stopped
may not proceed straight through the intersection or
turn left, except a left turn from a one-way street onto a one-way
street, until an indication to proceed is shown ,
except as provided in subdivision (b) .
(b) Except when a sign is in place prohibiting a turn, a
driver, after stopping as required by subdivision (a), facing a
steady circular red signal, A driver facing
a steady circular red signal alone shall stop at a marked limit
line, but if none, before entering the crosswalk on the near side of
the intersection or, if none, then before entering the intersection,
and may turn right, or turn left from a one-way street onto a
one-way street , except when a sign is in place prohibiting the
turn . A driver making that the
turn shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians lawfully within an
adjacent crosswalk and to any vehicle that has approached or is
approaching so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard to the
driver, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to that vehicle
until the driver can proceed with reasonable safety.
(c) A driver facing a steady red arrow signal shall not enter the
intersection to make the movement indicated by the arrow and, unless
entering the intersection to make a movement permitted by another
signal, shall stop at a clearly marked limit line, but if none,
before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection,
or if none, then before entering the intersection, and shall remain
stopped until an indication permitting movement is shown.
(d) Unless otherwise directed by a pedestrian control signal as
provided in Section 21456, a pedestrian facing a steady circular red
or red arrow signal shall not enter the roadway.
SEC. 3. Section 21455.4 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
21455.4. A local governmental agency that operates an automatic
traffic enforcement system pursuant to Section 21455.5 shall extend
the time on the yellow light interval by one second beyond the
minimum yellow light change intervals for posted speeds or prima
facie speeds as designated pursuant to the California Manual on
Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), or its successor.
SEC. 4. Section 21455.7 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
21455.7. (a) At an intersection at which there is an automated
enforcement system in operation, the minimum yellow light change
interval shall be established in accordance with the Traffic
Manual of the Department of Transportation at one
second beyond the yellow light change intervals as designated
pursuant to the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
(MUTCD), or its successor .
(b) For purposes of subdivision (a), the
The minimum yellow light change intervals
relating to designated approach speeds provided in the Traffic Manual
of the Department of Transportation established
pursuant to subdivision (a) are mandatory minimum yellow light
change intervals. Any citation issued by a law
enforcement agency shall be dismissed if the local governmental
agency or local authority has not established the yellow light change
intervals in compliance with the requirements of this section.
(c) A yellow light change interval may exceed the minimum interval
established pursuant to subdivision (a).
