A. Unlawful Acts:
1. It is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to do any act forbidden, or to fail to perform any act required, in this title.
2. It is unlawful for a parent of a child or the guardian of a ward to authorize or knowingly to permit any such child or ward to violate any provision of this title.
3. It is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to authorize or knowingly to permit any vehicle registered in his or its name to be driven or to stand or to be parked in violation of any provisions of this title. (1986 Code § 20-141)
B. Eluding Peace Officer: Any operator of a motor vehicle who has received a visual and audible signal, a red light and a siren, from a police officer driving a motor vehicle with insignia showing the same to be an official police, sheriff, or highway patrol, or state game ranger vehicle, directing the operator to bring his vehicle to a stop, and who wilfully increases his speed or extinguishes his lights in an attempt to elude such police officer, or wilfully attempts in any other manner to elude the police officer, or who does elude such police officer within the city, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Anyone found guilty of violating this subsection shall, upon conviction, be fined five hundred dollars ($500.00). (1986 Code § 20-142; amd. 2005 Code)
C. Citations:
1. Police officers are hereby authorized to give notice to persons violating provisions of this title by delivering a citation to violators or, in cases where vehicles without drivers are parked or stopped in violation of this title, by affixing such citations to the vehicles by means of which the violation occurred. Such citation, among other things, shall indicate briefly the charge, shall bear the registration number of the vehicle, and shall direct the violator to present the citation at the police station or other designated place within five (5) days or such other reasonable time as may be specified thereon. Nothing in this section shall abridge the power to arrest any violator and to take him into custody, or to file a complaint against him, at any time.
2. The city council may require that the police officers use citations furnished by the city clerk and that such citations be serially numbered, and may regulate the use and handling of citations. (1986 Code § 20-143)
D. Failure To Comply With Citation: If a violator of any provision of this title who has been given a citation as provided in subsection C of this section fails to appear in accordance with the instruction on such citation, the chief of police or his authorized agent shall send to the owner of the vehicle involved a letter or other written notice informing him of the violation and warning him to appear as directed and that, in the event such letter or notice is disregarded for a period of ten (10) days, a complaint will be filed and warrant of arrest issued; provided, that nothing in this section shall abridge the power to file a complaint against him prior to the expiration of such time. (1986 Code § 20-144)
E. Presumption In Reference To Illegal Parking:
1. In any prosecution charging a violation of any law or regulation governing the standing or parking of a vehicle, proof that the particular vehicle described in the complaint was parked in violation of any such law or regulation, together with proof that the defendant named in the complaint was at the time of such parking the registered owner of such vehicle, shall constitute in evidence a prima facie presumption that the registered owner of such vehicle was the person who parked or placed such vehicle at the point where, and for the time during which, such violation occurred.
2. The foregoing stated presumption shall apply only when the procedure of giving a citation has been followed. (1986 Code § 20-145)
F. Entering Complaint; Issuance Of Warrant: In the event any person fails to comply with a citation given to such person or attached to a vehicle, the chief of police shall have a complaint entered against such person before the municipal judge; and the municipal judge shall issue a warrant for the arrest of such person. (1986 Code § 20-146)
G. Penalty: Any person, firm or corporation who violates any provision of this title, performs any unlawful act as defined in this title, or falls to perform any act required in this title, is guilty of an offense against the city, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in a sum not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00), not including costs. (1986 Code § 20-150; amd. 2005 Code)
Notes
| 1 | 1. See also subsection 1-9-12A of this code for specific traffic violations and fines imposed. |