BILL NUMBER: AB 444	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Lowenthal

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2013

   An act to amend Sections 21953, 21954, and 21955 of the Vehicle
Code, relating to pedestrians.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 444, as introduced, Lowenthal. Pedestrians: highway workers.
   Existing law requires that a pedestrian upon a roadway yield the
right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway so near as to
constitute an immediate hazard, unless the pedestrian is within a
crosswalk, pedestrian tunnel, or overhead crossing, and prohibits a
pedestrian from crossing the roadway at any place except in a
crosswalk, as specified.
   This bill would exempt a highway worker, as defined, from these
provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 21953 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
   21953.   (a)    Whenever any pedestrian crosses
a roadway other than by means of a pedestrian tunnel or overhead
pedestrian crossing, if a pedestrian tunnel or overhead crossing
serves the place where the pedestrian is crossing the roadway,
 such   the  pedestrian shall yield the
right-of-way to all vehicles on the highway so near as to constitute
an immediate hazard. 
   (b) This section shall not apply to a highway worker. For purposes
of this section, "highway worker" means an employee of the
Department of Transportation, a contractor or employee of a
contractor working under contract with the Department of
Transportation, an employee of a city, county, or city and county, a
contractor or employee of a contractor while working under contract
with a city, county, or city and county, or a volunteer as defined in
Section 1720.4 of the Labor Code who does one or more of the
following:  
   (1) Performs maintenance, repair, or construction of state highway
or local street or road infrastructures and associated rights-of-way
in highway or local street or road work zones. 
   (2) Operates equipment on state highway or local street or road
infrastructures and associated rights-of-way in highway or local
street or road work zones.  
   (3) Performs any related maintenance work, as required, on state
highway or local street or road infrastructures in highway or local
street or road work zones.  
   This 
    (c)    This  section shall not be
construed to mean that a marked crosswalk, with or without a signal
device, cannot be installed where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead
crossing exists.
  SEC. 2.  Section 21954 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
   21954.  (a) Every pedestrian upon a roadway at any point other
than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an
intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the
roadway so near as to constitute an immediate hazard.
   (b) The provisions of this section shall not relieve the driver of
a vehicle from the duty to exercise due care for the safety of any
pedestrian upon a roadway. 
   (c) Subdivision (a) shall not apply to a highway worker as defined
in Section 21953. 
  SEC. 3.  Section 21955 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
   21955.   (a)    Between adjacent intersections
controlled by traffic control signal devices or by police officers,
pedestrians shall not cross the roadway at any place except in a
crosswalk. 
   (b) This section shall not apply to a highway worker as defined in
Section 21953.