BILL NUMBER: AB 162	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 19, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 24, 2015

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 state  highways.   highways, and
declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. 


	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 provide  a preliminary version of  the report to
specified legislative committees on or before  January
  December  1,  2017.   2015,
and the final report on or before July 1, 2016.  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   The bill would provide that its provisions are repealed as of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. 
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute. 
   Vote:  majority   2/3  . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Wrong-way driving on state highways kills or injures numerous
Californians each year.
   (b) Accidents caused by wrong-way driving on highways are more
likely to result in fatal or serious injuries than other types of
accidents.
   (c) According to the Department of the California Highway Patrol,
from 2001 to 2014, inclusive, a total of 193 fatal collisions and 685
injury collisions occurred on state highways in this state as a
result of wrong-way driving.
   (d) Innovative countermeasures are needed to prevent drivers from
entering the highway the wrong way.
  SEC. 2.  Section 21651.1 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
   21651.1.  (a) The Department of Transportation, in consultation
with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, shall update
the June 1989 report entitled "Prevention of Wrong-Way Accidents"
prepared by the Department of Transportation pursuant to Chapter 153
of the Statutes of 1987. The update shall account for technological
advancements and innovation since publication of the 1989 report and
shall include a review of methods studied or implemented by other
jurisdictions, including state or local agencies within or outside
the state, and methods studied by nongovernmental entities to prevent
wrong-way drivers from entering state highways.  The
  A preliminary version of the  updated report
shall be provided to the Senate Committee on Housing and
Transportation and the Assembly Committee on Transportation on or
before  January   December  1, 
2017.  2015, and the final report shall be provided to
those committees on or before July 1, 2016.  The report shall
identify any additional treatments and technologies with the
potential to reduce the number of instances of wrong-way driving on
state highways and shall include a plan to incorporate those
treatments and technologies into the Department of Transportation's
wrong way monitoring and mitigation program for the state highway
system.
   (b) This section is repealed on January 1, 2021, pursuant to
Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
   SEC. 3.    This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
 
   In order to make progress on prevention of wrong-way accidents as
quickly as possible, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.