(A) Findings and purpose.
(1) The repeated driving of a motor vehicle along or across one portion of a public street creates vehicle congestion along the street and at the intersections, which blocks access by emergency vehicles, interferes with vehicular traffic passing along and across the congested street and also interferes with vehicular traffic attempting to get to businesses and residences located along congested streets.
(2) The enforcement of existing traffic regulations as a means of preventing this traffic congestion has proven to be inadequate to do so.
(3) New code provisions are needed to reduce traffic congestion on and across traffic congestion streets.
(4) The purpose of this section is to prohibit the repeated driving of a motor vehicle along and across one portion of a congested public street, which shall constitute a strict liability violation without any requirement of culpable mental state, all as described in this section.
(B) Traffic congestion street defined. For the purpose of this section, the following definition shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
TRAFFIC CONGESTION STREET. Any portion of a public street affected by traffic congestion caused in whole or in part by the repeated driving of the same motor vehicles along or across that portion of the street.
(C) Signs. Traffic congestion streets shall be signposted to notify drivers that they are entering a traffic congestion street, that repeated passage of a motor vehicle through or across the traffic congestion street is a violation of this code and that for a subsequent violation, the vehicle will be towed.
(D) Unlawful act. It is unlawful for the owner or driver of any motor vehicle to cause or permit that vehicle, between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. of the following morning, to pass along or across a traffic congestion street more than two times.
(E) Subsequent violations. If a vehicle passes along or across a traffic congestion street in violation of this section, any single subsequent drive-through of that traffic congestion street by that vehicle within the same 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. time period shall constitute a separate violation of this section; and the vehicle may be towed and taken to a storage area designated by the city and may be held for not more than 24 hours, all at the expense of the owner or person entitled to possession.
(F) Notice of towing for subsequent violations. Upon issuing a citation for a violation of this section, the officer shall give the person to whom the citation is issued a written notice which shall state: “Notice: You have been cited for violation of City Code Section 71.06 for repeated passage of a motor vehicle on or across a traffic congestion street. If the vehicle you are driving is again driven along or across this traffic congestion street before 5:00 a.m. next following citation, this vehicle shall be impounded and towed. Chief of Police.”
(G) Exemptions. This section shall not apply to:
(1) Any publicly owned vehicle of the city, county, school district, state or federal agency;
(2) Any vehicle licensed for public transportation; or
(3) Any other vehicle granted an exemption by the Chief of Police because passage of the vehicle along or across the traffic congestion street is necessary for commercial or medical reasons.
(2004 Code, § 71.06) Penalty, see § 10.99