Amended in Senate May 19, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 24, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 162


Introduced by Assembly Member Rodriguez

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chávez, Gonzalez, and Lackey)

(Coauthor: Senator Anderson)

January 21, 2015


An act to add and repeal Section 21651.1 of the Vehicle Code, relating to statebegin delete highways.end deletebegin insert highways, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 162, as amended, Rodriguez. State highways: wrong-way driving.

Existing law requires a vehicle to be driven on the right half of a roadway, subject to specified exceptions. On a highway that has been divided into 2 or more roadways by means of intermittent barriers or by means of specified kinds of dividing sections, existing law makes it unlawful to drive a vehicle on that highway, except to the right of the intermittent barrier or dividing section that separates 2 or more opposing lanes of traffic.

This bill would require the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, to update a 1989 report on wrong-way driving on state highways to account for technological advancements and innovation, to include a review of methods studied or implemented by other jurisdictions and entities to prevent wrong-way drivers from entering state highways, and to providebegin insert a preliminary version ofend insert the report to specified legislative committees on or beforebegin delete Januaryend deletebegin insert Decemberend insert 1,begin delete 2017.end deletebegin insert 2015, and the final report on or before July 1, 2016.end insert The bill would require the report to identify any additional treatments and technologies with the potential to reduce the number of instances of wrong-way driving on state highways and to include a plan to incorporate those treatments and technologies into the Department of Transportation’s wrong way monitoring and mitigation program. The bill would make related findings and declarations.

The bill would provide that its provisions are repealed as of January 1, 2021.

begin insert

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

end insert

Vote: begin deletemajority end deletebegin insert23end insert. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:

3(a) Wrong-way driving on state highways kills or injures
4numerous Californians each year.

5(b) Accidents caused by wrong-way driving on highways are
6more likely to result in fatal or serious injuries than other types of
7accidents.

8(c) According to the Department of the California Highway
9Patrol, from 2001 to 2014, inclusive, a total of 193 fatal collisions
10and 685 injury collisions occurred on state highways in this state
11as a result of wrong-way driving.

12(d) Innovative countermeasures are needed to prevent drivers
13from entering the highway the wrong way.

14

SEC. 2.  

Section 21651.1 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:

15

21651.1.  

(a) The Department of Transportation, in consultation
16with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, shall update
17the June 1989 report entitled “Prevention of Wrong-Way
18Accidents” prepared by the Department of Transportation pursuant
19to Chapter 153 of the Statutes of 1987. The update shall account
20for technological advancements and innovation since publication
21of the 1989 report and shall include a review of methods studied
22or implemented by other jurisdictions, including state or local
23agencies within or outside the state, and methods studied by
24nongovernmental entities to prevent wrong-way drivers from
P3    1entering state highways.begin delete Theend deletebegin insert A preliminary version of theend insert updated
2report shall be provided to the Senate Committee on Housing and
3Transportation and the Assembly Committee on Transportation
4on or beforebegin delete Januaryend deletebegin insert Decemberend insert 1,begin delete 2017.end deletebegin insert 2015, and the final report
5shall be provided to those committees on or before July 1, 2016.end insert

6 The report shall identify any additional treatments and technologies
7with the potential to reduce the number of instances of wrong-way
8driving on state highways and shall include a plan to incorporate
9those treatments and technologies into the Department of
10Transportation’s wrong way monitoring and mitigation program
11for the state highway system.

12(b) This section is repealed on January 1, 2021, pursuant to
13Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.

14begin insert

begin insertSEC. 3.end insert  

end insert
begin insert

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
15immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
16the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
17immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

end insert
begin insert

18In order to make progress on prevention of wrong-way accidents
19as quickly as possible, it is necessary that this act take effect
20immediately.

end insert


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