(a) For purposes of this section, “roadway” means that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel except the berm or shoulder, “right-of-way” means the roadway, shoulders or berm, ditch, and area extending to the right-of-way limits for public roads under the control of the state, county or local authority, and “impede or obstruct vehicular traffic” means to walk toward or stand in the right-of-way to interact with the occupant or driver of a motor vehicle and in doing so delay passage of that vehicle or other vehicles traveling in the same direction on the roadway, or to cause a driver of vehicle to take evasive action to avoid physical contact with a pedestrian or another motor vehicle.
(b) This section shall only apply to roadways and rights-of-way in the County’s townships.
(c) No person in the right-of-way shall impede or obstruct vehicular traffic.
(d) No person shall enter the roadway at any time except to cross the roadway within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.
(e) Whoever violates this Section 372.01 is guilty of interference in a roadway or right-of-way, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. When a person has been previously convicted of a violation of Section 372.01 or any other substantially similar state statute or municipal ordinance, the offense of interference in a roadway or right-of-way is a misdemeanor of the third degree.
(f) All other words and phrases used in this section shall have the same meanings as defined in Section 4511.01 et seq. of the Ohio Revised Code.
(g) A violation of subsections (c) or (d) is a strict liability offense.
(Ord. 2018-521. Adopted 12-11-18; Ord. 2019-417. Adopted 11-18-19.)