AB 2128

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(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.