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Various Laws Explained
I receive a lot of calls from people that want an article done addressing this issue or that. They are not really enough by themselves to fill a column, so I thought to do one or two articles addressing several items at once.
- If there are two vehicles coming toward each other and one turns right and the other turns left to go the same direction, the car turning right has the right of way over the car turning left. If there were a crash between them during the turn, the left turning vehicle could get a ticket for failure to yield. The car turning right could also get a ticket for turning into the wrong lane (if that occurred), but the car turning left has to yield to others coming from the opposite direction (UCA 41-6-66, 41-6-73)
- A school crosswalk shuts down to all vehicles when anyone steps off either curb to cross the street. Cross traffic can still go (parallel to the cross walk) but no car may cross the crosswalk until the person is off the street, and this includes the crosswalk guard with a stopsign. Many cars are almost clipping the guards on a daily basis. This differs from a regular crosswalk which only closes one half at a time as the pedestrian crosses. (UCA 41-6-78)
- You may not pass a school bus either direction when the lights are flashing red. If they are flashing yellow, there is not time enough to get around the bus before the lights change to red. Leave earlier tomorrow morning to be ahead of the bus instead of behind it.
- There are three speed limits in Utah that don't have to be posted and they depend on the area that the road traverses. 20 mph is for school zones. 25 is for urban districts (business or residential). 55 mph is for other locations. They are called "prima facie" speed limits, which means that they are taken for granted when we find ourselves in these types of areas. Many are the excuses: "I didn't know the speed limit" or "I didn't see a sign". Tough! Look around you and drive accordingly. If the speed limit is other than these three speeds, they have to be posted as such (example: I-15 is posted 65 or 75, U-18 is posted, St. George Blvd. is posted as 30). So if you don=t see the sign, you should actually be going slower, not faster, than the prima facie speed limit.
- Scooters used by children around the neighborhood are illegal if the parent is not within eyesight ("Under Direct supervision") and if they don't have a helmet on their heads. (UCA 41-6-90.5)
- Roundabouts: You do not have to stop at the yield sign if there is no car coming from the left. And if you are in the roundabout, you do not have to stop for a car that is waiting at a yield sign on one of the side streets. You should be prepared and alert to vehicles that may stop in these situations, though. Failure to stop for these vehicles can result in a ticket to you for following too close (after all, you didn=t stop before hitting the car in front of you, did you?)
- Right turns on red arrows: DO NOT TURN RIGHT until the light turns green. If it is a steady red circular signal, you may turn right only after a complete stop if it is clear to do so.
You can take my word for this, or you can go to stgeorgepolice.com and click on the link "Find a law: state" and look up the UCA section noted by each law. Knowledge is power, now go out and exert your strength correctly! And be safe out there!
Craig Harding
Public Information Officer
St. George Police Department
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