Traffic Code - 10.04

Pursuant to parts 1 and 2 of article 16 of Title 31, Colorado Revised Statutes, as amended, there is hereby adopted by reference Articles I and II, inclusive of the “Model Traffic Code for Colorado Revised 2003”, promulgated and published as such by the Colorado Department of Transportation, Safety and Traffic Engineering, 4201 East Arkansas Avenue EP 700, Denver, CO 80222. The subject matter of the Model Traffic Code relates primarily to comprehensive traffic control regulations for the Town. The purpose of this Chapter and the Code adopted herein is to provide a system of traffic regulations consistent with State law and generally conforming to similar regulations throughout the State and the nation. Three (3) copies of the Model Traffic Code adopted herein are now filed by the Town clerk in the Rangely Municipal Building of the Town , and may be inspected doing regular business hours.

The following deletions, additions, and modifications are made to the Model Traffic Code for Colorado Revised 2003:

1. Section 1101 Speed Limits, subsections (2) (b) and (c) are modified to read as follows:
   1. Except when a special hazard exists that requires a lower speed, the following speeds shall be lawful:
   2. Unless otherwise posted, thirty (30) miles per hour in any business district as defined in Section 42-1-102 (11) C.R.S.
   3. Unless otherwise posted, twenty-five (25) miles per hour in any residential district as defined in Section 42-1-102 (80) C.R.S.
2. A new section 1106 Police Chief Designation is added, which reads as follows: Section 1106 Police Chief Designation In accordance with the general powers granted to municipalities under Section 42-4-703 Entering through highway--stop or yield intersection, Section 42-4-ill Powers of local authorities, and Section 42-4-1102 Altering of speed limits of the C.R.S., as amended, and the specific powers granted to municipalities under Subsection (7) of said Section 42-4-1102, the police chief is designated the municipal officer who, based on traffic investigations and surveys and, as appropriate, design standards, projected traffic volumes, and engineering investigation, shall on public ways, places, and parking areas determine parking prohibitions, limitations, and restrictions, and speed limits and stop sign installations.
3. Section 1701 Municipalities--traffic offenses classified--schedule of fines, subsection (2) and (3), are deleted and new subsections (2) and (3) substituted as follows:
   1. The penalties and surcharges prescribed for traffic offenses under Section 1707 Summons and complaint or penalty assessment notice for traffic offenses--release-- registration, Subsection (3)(a), when a defendant has been issued a penalty assessment notice, agrees to pay, and does pay the penalty and surcharge within the time specified, shall be identical to those prescribed in Section 42-4-1701 Traffic offenses and infractions classified--penalties--penalty and surcharge schedule, subsections (1), (2), (3) and (4) (a) (I), (II), and (III), C.R.S., as amended, and said penalties and surcharges are hereby adopted by reference, except that in cases where the surcharge referenced in said Section 42.4.1701 above are less than five dollars (), the surcharge shall be established at five dollars ().
   2. In cases where a person fails to make payment within the time period specified of a penalty and surcharge contained within the penalty assessment notice, refuses to accept the notice, or for other reasons is required to appear before the court, the maximum penalty and surcharge which may be imposed shall not exceed the penalty and surcharge schedule referenced in subsection (2) above. Every person convicted of a violation of any provisions of this Chapter 10.04 Traffic Code for which a penalty assessment notice has not been or cannot be issued shall be punished by a fine not to exceed three hundred dollars (0) or by imprisonment not to exceed ninety (90) days, or by both such fine and imprisonment. In addition to said fine and /or imprisonment, the court, as it deems appropriate, may impose conditions and assess fees and costs upon a defendant so convicted.
4. Section 1203. Towing by the town of certain parked or unattended vehicles. Any vehicle parked or left unattended may be towed by the town or its agent, the cost of which shall be collectable from the owner or driver, if any of the following circumstances exists;
   1. The vehicle is parked in such a way to block, impede or interfere with
      1. The flow of traffic;
   2. The vehicle blocks lawful access to public or private property;
   3. The vehicle blocks or interferes with the maintenance of town
      1. Streets or removal of snow. The city shall only be able to enforce
      2. This subsection (3) after making reasonable efforts to notify all
      3. Vehicle owners of the need to remove such vehicles for
      4. Maintenance; or
   4. Any other circumstance deemed by the chief of police, town
      1. Manager or town attorney to be an emergency situation
      2. Requiring removal of the vehicle due to an imminent danger
      3. Caused by the location of a parked vehicle and after all
      4. Reasonable attempts have been made to locate the owner or
      5. Driver of the vehicle.

This Chapter 10.04 Traffic Code shall apply to every Street, alley, driveway, park, and to every other public way or public place or public parking area within the corporate limits of the town. The provisions of sections 1401, 1402, and 1413 of the adopted Model Traffic Code, respectively concerning reckless driving, careless driving, eluding a police officer, and accidents and accident reports, shall apply not only to public places and ways but also throughout the town.

1. Whenever any motor vehicle without driver is found parked, stopped, or standing in apparent violation of any provisions of this chapter and of the “Model Traffic Code for Colorado Revised 2003”, the officer finding such vehicle shall take its registration number and may take any other information displayed on the vehicle that may identify its user and shall conspicuously affix to such vehicle a penalty assessment notice indicating the offense or infraction and directing the driver of the vehicle to respond to and answer the charge against him at a place and at a time specified in said notice.
2. If the driver or owner of said unattended vehicle does not within the time so specified respond by appearance and make payment at the office of the court clerk or violations bureau by mailing the payment to said clerk or bureau or by other disposition of the charge as provided by law, the court clerk shall send another notice by mail to the registered owner of the motor vehicle to which the original charge was affixed, warning him that in event such notice is disregarded for a period of twenty (20) days from the date of mailing, a complaint will be filed and a warrant of arrest issued.
3. In any prosecution resulting from said charge, proof that the particular vehicle described in the complaint was parked, stopped, or standing in violation of the provisions of said chapter and this Code, together with proof that the defendant named in the complaint was at the time of said apparent violation the registered owner of said vehicle, shall constitute a prima facie presumption that the registered owner of said vehicle was the person who parked, stopped, or placed said vehicle at the point where, and for the time which, said violation occurred.

This Chapter shall be so interpreted and construed as to effectuate its general purpose to conform to the State’s uniform system for the regulation of vehicles and traffic. Article and section headings of this chapter and the adopted “Model Traffic Code for Colorado Revised 2003” shall not be deemed to govern, limit, modify, or in any manner affect the scope, meaning, or extent of the provisions of any article or section thereof.