(A) From the time any official air raid signal is given, continuously until the official all clear signal is given thereafter, only the following types of traffic shall be permitted to move:
(1) Vehicles of the Armed Forces of the United States of America;
(2) Ambulances, police and fire vehicles, and vehicles being then officially used by the several branches of the Civilian Defense Administration, including air raid wardens, demolition squads and bomb removal squads actually in emergency service, and vehicles controlled or operated by the Unites States Post Office when actually in use in transporting or on route to transport United States mail;
(3) Vehicles actually in emergency service for the repair or control of public utility equipment, whether privately or publicly owned;
(4) Vehicles under the actual control of officers or enlisted men of the State Guard and actually in official or emergency services, or actually on route to reporting for official or emergency duties; and/or
(5) Any other vehicles as may be permitted to move on special order of the Chief of Police or military authorities.
(B) (1) Vehicles described in divisions (A)(1) and (2) above shall be deemed emergency vehicles, and as emergency vehicles shall have general right-of-way over all other traffic, except that ambulances, police and fire vehicles shall have the right-of-way over other emergency vehicles.
(2) All vehicles in emergency use not already visibly marked as the same shall be lettered on the front, sides, and back with the letter E painted in white to a height of not less than one foot.
(C) Operators of all other vehicular traffic shall:
(1) Immediately draw to the side of the road or street and stop in a manner and in a place so as not to obstruct the reasonable use of the road or street, or any intersecting road or street, fire hydrant or police or fire station driveway or other emergency driveway. During the period of the air raid alarm, parking regulations pertaining to lights, time limits, loading zones, distances from intersections and parking in prohibited zones shall be suspended except insofar as their violation may constitute a violation of this chapter;
(2) Extinguish all lights;
(3) Lock the ignition of the vehicle, but shall not in any case lock the doors of the vehicle;
(4) Set the hand brake of the vehicle; and/or
(5) In the case of horse drawn vehicles, immediately halter the horse or horses thereof firmly and securely to a fixed object if one is available, and if none is available, to the vehicle itself, after unhitching the horses.
(D) Nothing contained in this chapter shall operate to limit the authority of any police officer, fireman, auxiliary fireman, auxiliary policeman, air raid warden, or other duly authorized office to prescribe the place and manner of the parking or storage of the vehicle or vehicles, in which event operators of vehicles shall immediately comply with the lawful directions of the officer or officers.
(E) During blackouts, no person, firm or corporation shall operate any vehicle upon the public streets or highways which is not equipped with lights so shielded as to prevent the lights or the reflection thereof from being visible at an altitude as may be prescribed by the United States Army.
(F) Operators of vehicles moving during blackouts shall observe the following rules and regulations:
(1) No person shall drive or operate any vehicle at a speed in excess of 20 miles per hour, nor in a manner so as to endanger the life, limb or property of any person.
(2) Operators shall obey and conform to all officially placed traffic signs, signals and markings, whether the same be of a permanent, emergency or temporary nature.
(3) Where special routes have been officially established, operators shall conform to the route designations both as to direction and type of vehicle.
(4) Where speeds of less than 20 miles per hour are designated by official signs or markers or by direction of a police officer or other authorized officer, operators shall not drive vehicles in excess of the lowered speeds.
(5) No operator of a vehicle shall drive to the left of the center line of the roadway except in cases where the right hand side of the roadway is impassable, and then only in a manner so as not to endanger other traffic then and there lawfully upon the roadway.
(6) No operator of a vehicle shall pass any other vehicle proceeding in the same direction and shall not drive within a distance of 50 feet from the vehicle immediately ahead proceeding in the same direction, except in cases where the pavement is of sufficient width to accommodate more than a single lane of travel in the same direction and where the operator of the following vehicle is in another lane than that in which he or she is overtaking.
(7) Any operator of a vehicle may elect to operate at a speed of less than 15 miles per hour, but when operating his or her vehicle at the reduced speed he or she shall, upon signal from the vehicle which may be immediately following, turn over to the extreme right-hand side of the roadway, stop, and allow the vehicle following to pass on his or her left.
(8) No operator of a vehicle shall turn the vehicle around on any roadway so as to proceed in the direction from whence he or she came.
(9) During blackouts no person afoot shall cross or attempt to cross any roadway at any place other than an established crosswalk, except in compliance with the direction of an official sign or marking, or under the direction of a police officer or other authorized officer.
(10) At all established cross-walks where traffic is controlled by a police officer or other authorized officer, or by official signs or signals, all pedestrians shall come to a stop before entering upon the street or roadway; and shall obey the directions of the officer, sign or signal.
(11) At all established cross walks where traffic is not controlled by a police or other authorized officer, or by any official sign or signal, pedestrians shall come to a stop before entering upon the street or roadway.
(12) In all cases where pedestrian overhead crossings or tunnels have been provided, pedestrians shall use the overhead crossings or tunnels instead of crossing on the pavements.
(13) No domestic animals shall be allowed to roam or graze upon the right-of-way of any public street or highways during blackouts, and it shall be the responsibility of the person in whose custody and control the animals are in to remove the domestic animals and to so confine them that they may not return to the public highway for the period of the blackout.
(14) Divisions (1), (2), (3), and (4) above shall apply to the operators of vehicles moving upon fixed rails upon any public street or roadway.
(G) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed so as to regulate traffic upon the public streets and roadways at times other than during air raids and blackouts. Under all other conditions, laws and ordinances now in effect or hereinafter enacted shall remain in force and be effective. During the period of air raids and blackouts, all matters with reference to the control and regulation of traffic which are not specifically legislated upon herein shall be governed by other prevailing laws and ordinances which may hereafter be effective.
(H) The fact that specific rules and regulations with reference to the operation of vehicles are prescribed in this chapter shall not operate as a limitation on the power of the Chief of Police, with the approval of the Mayor, to prescribe additional rules and regulations with regard to operation of vehicles from time to time as may be necessary, and the violation of any additional rules and regulations shall be deemed to be a violation of this chapter.
(I) It shall be unlawful for any person, other than a fireman, auxiliary fireman, peace officer, auxiliary policeman, air raid warden, member of the State Guard or member of the armed forces of the United States, when acting under orders of a superior officer, to control or attempt to control traffic on the city streets, or to in any way molest or interfere with any other person during an air raid or blackout period.
(`81 Code, § 9-1) Penalty, see § 38.99