The Arcadia Police Department wants to remind our residents that students are headed back to school. Remember to allow a little extra time if your travels take you near any of the schools in Arcadia, or if you are taking your kids to school. The Arcadia Police Department Traffic Bureau hopes this 2019-2020 school year will be exciting and successful. With that in mind, we would like to remind all students and parents of the shared responsibility they have of understanding and obeying traffic laws that help maintain safety in and around our school zones. For this purpose, we have provided a list of the most commonly violated traffic laws in our City’s school zones, allowing you to make a conscious and informed effort to create a safe environment for your fellow students, and or your children.
PARKING LAWS
California Vehicle Code section 21458(a) describes rules for curb markings.
1. RED Curb indicates no stopping, standing, or parking, whether the vehicle is attended or unattended, (No Student Drop Off or Pick Up in Red Zones)
2. YELLOW
Curb indicates stopping for the loading or unloading of passengers or freight (20 Minutes For Material & 3 Minutes For Passengers)
3. WHITE Curb indicates stopping for the loading or unloading of passengers (3 Minutes for Passengers)
4. GREEN Curb indicates time limit parking specified by local ordinance (24 & 30 Minute Zones)
5. BLUE Curb indicates parking limited exclusively to the vehicles of disabled persons
V.C. 22500(H) DOUBLE PARKING
Prohibits stopping, parking or standing of any attended/unattended vehicle on the roadway side of any vehicle stopped, parked or standing at the curb or edge of a highway (Often seen as parents drop off/pick up children in the lanes of traffic)
V.C. 22500(b) Park in Cross Walk
Prohibits the stopping, parking, or standing of any attended/unattended vehicle in a crosswalk
V.C. 22500(e) Park in Front of Public Drive
Prohibits stopping, parking, or standing of any attended/unattended vehicle in front of a public driveway
V.C. 22500(i) Bus Zone
Prohibits stopping, parking, or standing of any attended/unattended vehicle alongside a curb authorized for the loading and unloading of passengers of a bus, when indicated by a sign or red paint on the curb.
V.C. 22502 Parking Over 18” from Right Hand Side of Curb / Parking on Wrong Side of Street
Every vehicle stopped or parked upon a roadway…shall be stopped or parked with the right-handwheels of such vehicle parallel with and within 18 inches of the right-hand curb, except that motorcycles shall be parked with at least one wheel or fender touching the right-hand curb.
V.C. 22514 Park Near Fire Hydrant
No person shall stop, park, or leave standing any vehicle within 15 feet of a fire hydrant. EXCEPT, If the vehicle is attended by a licensed driver who is seated in the front seat and who can immediately move such vehicle in case of necessity.
Side Note—If the curb next to the fire hydrant is painted red, the vehicle stopping or parking to facilitate student pick up or drop off could still be cited for stopping/parking in a red zone
ENFORCEMENT
Officers commonly enforce parking laws in school zones by means of video enforcement. Officers may use video cameras to record violations as they occur and then mail the registered owner of the violating vehicle a citation for the observed violation. It is important to remember that the registered owner is the person receiving the citation, not the driver of the vehicle. The registered owner is responsible to resolve the citation. If parking citations are not cleared, either by dismissal or payment, the registered owner may not be able to renew their vehicle’s registration until the citation has been cleared by the DMV. Vehicles that have five or more citations on file are subject to impound, per California Vehicle Code section 22651(i)(1). The enforcement of parking restrictions and traffic laws in our school zones helps maintain vehicle and pedestrian safety, reminds drivers and pedestrians of their responsibility to share the roadway, and hopefully serves as a deterrent to prevent persons from future rule-breaking.
MOVING & NON-MOVING VIOLATIONS
V.C. 22101(d) Disobey Traffic Control Devices (No Left Turn, No Turn on Red, Yield, or No U-turn Signs at an Intersection)
When official traffic control devices are placed as required in subdivision (b) or (c), it shall be unlawful for any driver of a vehicle to disobey the directions of such official traffic control devices
V.C. 21461(a) Failure to Obey a Posted Sign (No left turn, No U-Turn, No Student Drop Off Signs, etc)
It is unlawful for a driver of a vehicle to fail to obey a sign or signal or to fail to obey a device erected or maintained by lawful authority of a public body or official.
V.C. 22103 No U-turn in Residential District
No person in a residential district shall make a U-turn when any other vehicle is approaching from either direction within 200 feet, except at an intersection when the approaching vehicle is controlled by an official traffic control device.
V.C. 21950(a) Drivers Yield to Pedestrians in Crosswalk
The driver of a vehicle shall yield the right of way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.
V.C. 21950(b) Pedestrian to Exercise Due Care
This section does not relieve a pedestrian from the duty of using due care for his or her safety. No pedestrian may suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard. No pedestrian may unnecessarily stop or delay traffic while in a marked or unmarked crosswalk.
V.C. 21950(c) Drivers to Exercise Due Care
The driver of a vehicle approaching a pedestrian within any marked or unmarked crosswalk shall exercise all due care and shall reduce the speed of the vehicle or take any other action relating to the operation of the vehicle as necessary to safeguard the safety of pedestrians
V.C. 21954(a) Pedestrians Outside of Crosswalks
Every pedestrian upon a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right of way to all vehicles upon the roadway so near as to constitute an immediate hazard.
V.C. 21955 Jaywalking
Pedestrians shall not cross the roadway at any place except in a crosswalk between adjacent intersections controlled by traffic control signal devices or by police officers. (Example: Duarte Road between Santa Anita & El Monte = Jaywalking)
V.C. 21100.3 Disobey a Crossing Guard
It is unlawful for any person to disobey the traffic directions of a person appointed or authorized by local authority to regulate traffic pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 21000 when such appointee is wearing an official insignia issued by the local authority and is acting in the course of his appointed duties.
V.C. 22350 Unsafe Speed (School Zone)
When signs are posted for a “School Zone—When Children Present”, the speed limit is reduced to 25 MPH. This applies whenever children are present (Before, During & After School).
V.C. 23123(a) Talking on Cell Phone While Driving (18 + = Adult) & V.C. 23124 Cell Phone Under 18 Yrs.
Adults shall not drive a vehicle while using a wireless telephone unless hands-free. Minors may not use cell or hands-free device.
V.C. 23123.5 Texting While Driving
A person shall not drive a motor vehicle while using an electronic wireless communication device to write, send or read texts.
H&S 118948(a) Smoking in Vehicle
It is unlawful for a person to smoke a pipe, cigar, or cigarette in a motor vehicle, whether in motion or at rest, in which there is a minor (someone under 18 years old). For the purpose of this section, “To smoke” means to have in one’s immediate possession a lighted pipe, cigar, or cigarette containing tobacco or any other plant.
SEATBELT LAWS
The driver and all occupants of a moving vehicle must properly wear safety belts, as they were designed to be worn. The shoulder strap must be worn over shoulders, not under.
V.C. 21212(a) Helmet Laws
A person under 18 years of age shall not operate a bicycle, a nonmotorized scooter, or a skateboard, nor wear in-line or roller skates, nor ride upon a bicycle, a nonmotorized scooter, or a skateboard as a passenger, upon a street, bikeway, as defined in Section 890.4 of the Streets and Highways Code, or any other public bicycle path or trail unless that person is wearing a properly fitted and fastened bicycle helmet that meets the standards of either the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) or the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), or standards subsequently established by those entities. This requirement also applies to a person who rides upon a bicycle while in a restraining seat that is attached to the bicycle or in a trailer towed by the bicycle.
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