CHAPTER 70: GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section
70.01 Title
70.02 Definitions
70.03 Compliance required
70.04 Enforcement; required signs
70.05 City Manager authority
70.06 Traffic register

70.99 Penalty
Cross-reference:
Plants and Objects Interfering With Traffic, see §§ 94.090 et seq.
Statutory reference:
Powers of local authorities, see Tex. Trans. Code, §§ 542.202 and 542.203
Traffic law uniform throughout state, see Tex. Trans. Code, § 542.201

§ 70.01 TITLE.
This title may be cited as the “City Traffic Code.”
(Prior Code, § 9-1)

§ 70.02 DEFINITIONS.
For the purpose of this title, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates
or requires a different meaning.

ALLEY. Any street as defined in this section having no legal or official name other than ALLEY
of 20 feet or less in width.

AUTHORIZED EMERGENCY VEHICLE. Vehicles of the Fire Department, police vehicles,
public and private ambulances for which permits have been issued by the State Board of Health,
emergency vehicles of municipal departments or public service corporations as are designated and
authorized by the city, vehicles operated by blood banks or tissue banks accredited or approved under
the laws of this state or the U.S., while making emergency deliveries of blood, drugs, medicines, or
organs.

CURBLINE. The boundary of the portion of any street which is improved, designed, or ordinarily
used for vehicular traffic.

DRIVER. Every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle.

LEGAL HOLIDAYS. New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’
Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and other holidays as may be officially designated by the City
Council.

OFFICIAL TRAFFIC-CONTROL DEVICES. All signs, signals, markings, and devices not
inconsistent with this title placed or erected by authority of a public body or official having jurisdiction,
for the purpose of regulating, warning, or guiding traffic.

PARK or PARKING. The standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than
temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading merchandise or
passengers.

PLANT. Any hedge, bush, shrub, vine, palm, or other vegetation, except trees.

POLICE OFFICER. Every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for
violations of traffic regulations.

PROPERTY LINE. The boundary line of any street, which line marks the division between the
street area and the property abutting upon same.

SIDEWALK. The portion of a street between the curblines, or the lateral lines of a roadway, and
the adjacent property lines, intended for the use of pedestrians.

STAND or STANDING. The halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than
temporarily for the purposes of and while actually engaged in receiving or discharging passengers.

TRAFFIC. Pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances whether singly
or together while using any highway for purposes of travel.

VEHICLES. Every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported
or drawn upon a street, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails
or tracks.
(Prior Code, § 9-2)
Statutory reference:
Legal holidays, see Tex. Gov’t Code, Chapter 662
Traffic definitions, see Tex. Trans. Code, Chapter 541

§ 70.03 COMPLIANCE REQUIRED.
(A) It is a misdemeanor for any person to do any act forbidden or to fail to perform any act required
in this title.

(B) No person shall wilfully violate his or her written promise to appear given to an officer upon
an arrest for any traffic violation, regardless of the disposition of the charge on which he or she was
originally arrested.
(Prior Code, § 9-3) Penalty, see § 70.99

§ 70.04 ENFORCEMENT; REQUIRED SIGNS.
No provision of this title for which signs are required shall be enforced against an alleged violator
if at the time and place of the alleged violation an official sign is not in proper position and sufficiently
legible to be seen by an ordinarily observant person. Whenever a particular subchapter, section, or
division does not state that signs are required, that subchapter, section, or division shall be effective even though no signs are erected or in place.
(Prior Code, § 9-4)
Statutory reference:
Where signs are required, see Tex. Trans. Code, § 542.203

§ 70.05 CITY MANAGER AUTHORITY.
Whenever and wherever the congestion of traffic, the frequency of passage of vehicles or pedestrians or both, the direction and volume of the flow of traffic, the dimensions and conditions of the streets and sidewalks, and the use of property abutting the streets are such that the City Manager, by a traffic survey, finds it to be necessary for the free flow and expeditious handling of traffic and the safety of person and property, he or she may, in compliance with this title:

(A) Designate and maintain crosswalks;

(B) Establish safety zones on any of the streets of the city;

(C) Mark lanes for traffic and parking stalls on the streets of the city;

(D) Designate the locations at which the making of right, left, or U-turns at any intersection of streets in the city is prohibited;

(E) Designate the course to be traveled by vehicles turning at or near certain intersections;

(F) Designate routes directing traffic near public or private schools, parks, and public buildings;

(G) Determine the location of passenger zones, loading zones, and military passenger and loading zones;

(H) Designate spaces on the streets of the city for use as public cab stands;

(I) Designate spaces on the streets of the city for use as bus stops;

(J) Designate areas on the streets of the city which shall not be used as spaces for the parking of vehicles;

(K) Designate areas on the streets of the city where single parking may be permitted;

(L) Designate intersections of streets at which drivers operating vehicles approaching the intersection on one or more of the intersecting streets must bring their vehicles to a complete stop before proceeding into the intersection;

(M) Designate intersections, the crossing of which shall be controlled by red, green, and amber lights and arrows as elsewhere provided in this title, and to determine the type of these lights or trafficcontrol devices to be installed at each intersection;

(N) Designate the routes which must be followed by commercial vehicles in using the streets of the
city; provided, that this type of vehicle shall be prohibited from using any street for the purpose of going
directly to or from any residential, commercial, or industrial establishment abutting on that street for the
purpose of delivering or picking up materials thereat; and

(O) Make those changes as changing conditions may require in any designation, determination, or
regulation he or she is herein authorized to make.
(Prior Code, § 9-5) Penalty, see § 70.99

§ 70.06 TRAFFIC REGISTER.
Whenever the City Manager shall approve in writing and shall file with the City Secretary any written determination, designation, finding, or conclusion of a traffic survey pursuant to the authority granted in this title, the same shall become a record of the specific location at which a traffic-control device, marking, or special regulation of traffic is hereby made applicable, and the same shall be dated, authenticated, and placed in the traffic register by the City Secretary.
(Prior Code, § 9-7)
Cross-reference:
Traffic-Control Devices, see §§ 71.060 et seq.

§ 70.99 PENALTY.
(A) Whenever in this title an act is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense
or a misdemeanor, or wherever in this title the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act
is declared to be unlawful, and no specific penalty is otherwise provided in this code of ordinances, the
violation shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500, provided, however, that no penalty shall be
greater or less than the penalty provided for the same or a similar offense of the laws of the state.

(B) Each day a violation of this code or of any ordinance continues shall constitute a separate offense.