Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:41 – Power of local municipal authorities; exception
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:41
- Business district: means the territory contiguous to and including a highway when within any six hundred feet along such highway there are buildings in use for business or industrial purposes, including but not limited to hotels, banks, or office buildings, railroad stations and public buildings which occupy at least three hundred feet frontage on one side or three hundred feet collectively on both sides of the highway. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Commissioner: means the secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Crosswalk: means : (a) That part of a roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks, shoulders, or a combination thereof on opposite sides of the highway measured from the curbs or, in absence of curbs, from the edges of the traversable roadway or if there is neither a sidewalk nor shoulder, a crosswalk is the portion of the roadway at an intersection that would be included within the prolongation of the lateral lines of the sidewalk, shoulder, or both on the opposite side of the street if there were a sidewalk or shoulder. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Department: means the Department of Transportation and Development. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place of whatever nature publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for the purpose of vehicular travel, including bridges, causeways, tunnels and ferries; synonymous with the word "street". See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Intersection: means : The area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curb lines, or, if none, then the lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two highways which join one another at, or approximately at, right angles, or the area within which vehicles traveling upon different highways joining at any other angle may come in conflict. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Municipality: means an incorporated village, town, or city created under the authority of the constitution or laws of this state. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Operator: means every person, other than a chauffeur, who drives or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway or who is exercising control over or steering a vehicle being towed by a motor vehicle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Owner: means a person who holds a legal title to a vehicle or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale, lease, or transfer of possession thereof with the right of purchase upon the performance of the conditions stated in the agreement, with the right of immediate possession in the vendee, lessee, possessor, or in the event such similar transaction is had by means of mortgage and the mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee, lessee, possessor, or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purposes of this Chapter. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- parking: means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading merchandise or passengers. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Parking area: means an area used by the public as a means of access to and egress from, and for the free parking of motor vehicles by patrons of a shopping center, business, factory, hospital, institution, or similar building or location. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- person: includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:10
- Railroad: means a carrier of persons or property upon cars, other than streetcars, operated upon stationary rails. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- standing: means the halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in receiving or discharging passengers. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- Stop: means , when required, the complete cessation from movement. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- stopping: means , when prohibited, any halting, even momentarily of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer, weights and standards police officer, or traffic control sign or signal. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Vehicle: means every device by which persons or things may be transported upon a public highway or bridge, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
A. Except as otherwise provided by law, this Chapter shall not be deemed to prevent local municipal authorities, with respect to highways other than state maintained highways within their corporate limits, from adopting ordinances:
(1) Regulating the standing or parking of vehicles;
(2) Enforcing the provisions of this Chapter, regulations of the department and of the commissioner and local regulations adopted pursuant hereto, by means of police officers or by the use of traffic-control devices approved by the department;
(3) Regulating or prohibiting processions or assemblages on the highways;
(4) Designating particular highways as one-way highways, or through highways;
(5) Designating no passing zones;
(6) Designating routes for freight carrying vehicles;
(7) Requiring the registration and licensing of bicycles, including the requirement of a registration fee;
(8) Directing the flow of traffic by designating the places and direction in which turning movements may be made or prohibited;
(9) Establishing speed limits and speed zones, provided that no speed shall be permitted which is in excess of the specific maximum speed limits established by this Chapter;
(10) Restricting traffic on limited access highways, or, temporarily reducing the permissible weight of vehicles which may be operated thereon, on other highways, when, because of deterioration, rain, snow, other climatic conditions, or the making of repairs, the highway will be seriously damaged or destroyed unless the use of vehicles thereon is prohibited or permissible weight reduced;
(11) Erecting stop signs at particularly dangerous railroad crossings;
(12) Requiring pedestrians to comply strictly with the directions of any official traffic-control signal and prohibiting pedestrians from crossing any roadway within a business district or any designated highways except in a crosswalk;
(13) Directing the installation of speed bumps.
(14) Creating additional regulations controlling traffic upon nonstate maintained highways within their corporate limits under their general police power so long as such regulations do not modify, or conflict with, the provisions of this Chapter or regulations of the department and the commissioner adopted pursuant hereto.
B. No ordinance or regulation enacted under Paragraph (A)(4), (5), (6), or (10) of this Section shall be effective until signs giving notice of such local traffic regulations are posted upon or at the entrances to the highway or part thereof affected, as may be most appropriate.
C.(1) Local municipal authorities also may adopt ordinances regulating traffic on state maintained highways within their corporate limits, so long as such ordinances do not establish regulations different from, or in addition to, the provisions of this Chapter and the regulations of the department and the commissioner adopted pursuant thereto. In addition, local municipal authorities may adopt ordinances which supplement the provisions of this Chapter and regulations of the department and commissioner adopted pursuant thereto but only after such ordinances have been approved in writing by the department. However, the municipal ordinance may provide for such penalties as are consistent with the authority granted by the local municipal charter or state statute under which the municipal government operates and the penalties imposed need not necessarily be consistent with the penalties provided by La. Rev. Stat. 32:57.
(2) Furthermore, local municipal authorities may adopt by reference, all or any of the provisions of this Chapter and/or regulations of the department and commissioner adopted pursuant hereto with respect to any highways within their corporate limits.
D. Upon request of either the owner or the person in charge of the general operation and control of a parking area, local municipal authorities may adopt local ordinances to:
(1) Order stop signs, yield signs, or other traffic control devices erected at specified entrance or exit locations to a parking area or at an intersection in the parking area.
(2) Regulate traffic in the parking area, including regulation by means of traffic control signals.
(3) Prohibit or regulate the turning of vehicles or specified types of vehicles at intersections or other designated locations in the parking area.
(4) Regulate the crossing of a roadway in the parking area by pedestrians.
(5) Designate a separate roadway, drive, or lane in the parking area for one-way traffic.
(6) Prohibit, regulate, restrict, or limit the stopping, standing, or parking of vehicles in specified areas of the parking area.
(7) Designate safety zones, loading zones, and other restricted areas in the parking area.
(8) Provide for the removal and storage of vehicles parked or abandoned in the parking area during snowstorms, floods, fires, or other public emergencies, or found unattended in the parking area, if the vehicles constitute an obstruction to traffic or if stopping, standing, or parking is prohibited, and for the payment of reasonable charges for the removal and storage by the owner or the operator of the vehicle.
(9) Adopt additional reasonable rules with respect to traffic and parking in a parking area as local conditions may require for the safety and convenience of the public or users of the parking area.
E. When requested by the owner of a private road located within its corporate limits, a municipal governing authority may adopt ordinances regulating matters enumerated in Paragraphs (A)(2) and (9) of this Section on the private road. Any law enforcement agency with jurisdiction in the municipality may enforce compliance with an ordinance adopted pursuant to this Subsection.
F. Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection A of this Section or any other law to the contrary, the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System may adopt a resolution to exercise exclusive jurisdiction, control, maintenance, or enforcement of traffic and parking regulations on any portion of a public road located within the boundaries of Grambling State University by designating that portion of the public road as a “university road” and posting appropriate signs on the road.
Acts 1962, No. 310, §1. Amended by Acts 1963, No. 33, §1; Acts 1977, No. 113, §1, eff. June 22, 1977; Acts 1978, No. 433, §1; Acts 2007, No. 187, §1; Acts 2010, No. 85, §1; Acts 2019, No. 217, §3, eff. June 11, 2019.