Bill Text: CA AB971 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Vehicles: driving offenses: falling items.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2018-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB971 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB971-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 28, 2017 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 971 |
| Introduced by Assembly Member Choi |
February 16, 2017 |
An act to amend Section 23113 23114 of the Vehicle Code, relating to driving offenses.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 971, as amended, Choi.
Driving offenses: dumping. Vehicles: driving offenses: falling items.
Existing law authorizes a traffic officer with reason to believe that a vehicle is not safely loaded, to require the driver to stop and submit to an inspection. Existing law authorizes a traffic officer who determines that the vehicle is not safely loaded, to require the driver to stop and reload or remove a portion of the load as necessary to make the vehicle load safe.
Existing law defines vehicular manslaughter as, among other things, driving a vehicle in the commission of an unlawful act, as specified, that results in the unlawful killing of a human being without malice. Under existing law, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, as defined, is
punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year or by imprisonment in the state prison for 2, 4, or 6 years, and vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year.
This bill would require a driver transporting an item in a vehicle or truck bed to ensure that the item is reasonably secured before driving the vehicle. The bill would also require a driver transporting heavy debris, metal, glass, or any other item that falls from a vehicle or truck bed while being transported to report the loss of the item and the route the vehicle traveled during the time the item fell to the Department of the California Highway Patrol as soon as he or she discovers the item is missing. A violation of these provisions is an infraction punishable by a fine of $200 for a first offense,
$400 for a 2nd offense occurring within one year of a prior offense, or $800 for a 3rd or subsequent offense occurring within one year of 2 or more prior offenses. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would also make the driver of a vehicle transporting an item that falls and proximately causes the death of another person guilty of vehicular manslaughter, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison or a county jail, as specified above. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain
costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law requires a person who drops, dumps, deposits, places, or throws, or causes or permits to be dropped, dumped, deposited, placed, or thrown, specified materials upon a highway or street to immediately remove the material or cause the material to be removed. Existing law authorizes the Department of the California Highway Patrol or another government agency to act to remove materials disposed of in this manner, without liability for exercising that authority, except as specified.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 23114 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:23114.
(a) Except as provided in Subpart I (commencing with Section 393.100) of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations related to hay and straw, a vehicle shall not be driven or moved on any highway unless the vehicle is so constructed, covered, or loaded as to prevent any of its contents or load other than clear water or feathers from live birds from dropping, sifting, leaking, blowing, spilling, or otherwise escaping from the vehicle.(b) (1) Aggregate material shall only be carried in the cargo area of a vehicle. The cargo area shall not contain any holes, cracks, or openings through which that material may escape, regardless of the degree to which the vehicle is loaded, except as provided in
paragraph (2).
(2) Every vehicle used to transport aggregate materials, regardless of the degree to which the vehicle is loaded, shall be equipped with all of the following:
(A) Properly functioning seals on any openings used to empty the load, including, but not limited to, bottom dump release gates and tailgates.
(B) Splash flaps behind every tire, or set of tires, regardless of the position on the truck, truck tractor, or trailer.
(C) Center flaps at a location to the rear of each bottom dump release gate as to trucks or trailers equipped with bottom dump release gates. The center flap may be positioned directly behind the bottom dump release gate and in front of the rear axle of the vehicle, or it may be positioned to the rear of the rear axle in
line with the splash flaps required behind the tires. The width of the center flap may extend not more than one inch from one sidewall to the opposite sidewall of the inside tires and shall extend to within five inches of the pavement surface, and may be not less than 24 inches from the bottom edge to the top edge of that center flap.
(D) Fenders starting at the splash flap with the leading edge of the fenders extending forward at least six inches beyond the center of the axle that cover the tops of tires not already covered by the truck, truck tractor, or trailer body.
(E) Complete enclosures on all vertical sides of the cargo area, including, but not limited to, tailgates.
(F) Shed boards designed to prevent aggregate materials from being deposited on the vehicle body during top loading.
(c) Vehicles comprised of full rigid enclosures are exempt only from subparagraphs (C) and (F) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b).
(d) For purposes of this section, “aggregate material” means rock fragments, pebbles, sand, dirt, gravel, cobbles, crushed base, asphalt, and other similar materials.
(e) (1) In addition to subdivisions (a) and (b), a vehicle may not transport any aggregate material upon a highway unless the material is covered.
(2) Vehicles transporting loads composed entirely of asphalt material are exempt only from the provisions of this section requiring that loads be covered.
(3) Vehicles transporting loads composed entirely of petroleum coke material
are not required to cover their loads if they are loaded using safety procedures, specialized equipment, and a chemical surfactant designed to prevent materials from blowing, spilling, or otherwise escaping from the vehicle.
(4) Vehicles transporting loads of aggregate materials are not required to cover their loads if the load, where it contacts the sides, front, and back of the cargo container area, remains six inches from the upper edge of the container area, and if the load does not extend, at its peak, above any part of the upper edge of the cargo container area.
(f) A person who provides a location for vehicles to be loaded with an aggregate material or other material shall provide a location for vehicle operators to comply with this section before entering a highway.
(1) A person is exempt from the
requirements of this subdivision if the location that he or she provides for vehicles to be loaded with the materials described in this subdivision has 100 yards or less between the scale houses where the trucks carrying aggregate material are weighed and the point of egress to a public road.
(2) A driver of a vehicle loaded with aggregate material leaving locations exempted from the requirements of this subdivision is authorized to operate on public roads only until that driver is able to safely cover the load at a site near the location’s point of egress to the public road. Except as provided under paragraph (4) of subdivision (e), an uncovered vehicle described in this paragraph may not operate more than 200 yards from the point of egress to the public road.
(g) (1) A driver
transporting an item in a vehicle or truck bed shall ensure that the item is reasonably secured before driving the vehicle.
(2) If heavy debris, metal, glass, or any other item falls from a vehicle or truck bed while being transported, the driver of the vehicle shall report the loss of the item and the route the vehicle traveled during the time the item fell to the Department of the California Highway Patrol as soon as he or she discovers the item is missing.
(3) Notwithstanding any other law, a violation of paragraph (1) or (2) is an infraction punishable as follows:
(A) By a fine of two hundred dollars ($200) for a first offense.
(B) By a fine of four hundred dollars ($400) for a second offense occurring within one year of a prior offense.
(C) By a fine of eight hundred dollars ($800) for a third or subsequent offense occurring within one year of two or more prior offenses.
(h) If an item being transported by a vehicle falls and proximately causes the death of a person other than the driver of the
vehicle, the driver shall be charged with vehicular manslaughter pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 192 of the Penal Code, and upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the state prison or a county jail pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 193 of the Penal Code.
SEC. 2.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.(a)A person who drops, dumps, deposits, places, or throws, or causes or permits to be dropped, dumped, deposited, placed, or thrown, upon a highway or street any material described in Section 23112 or in subdivision (d) of Section 23114 shall immediately remove the material or cause the material to be removed.
(b)If the person fails to
comply with subdivision (a), the governmental agency responsible for the maintenance of the street or highway on which the material has been deposited may remove the material and collect, by civil action, if necessary, the actual cost of the removal operation in addition to any other damages authorized by law from the person made responsible under subdivision (a).
(c)A member of the Department of the California Highway Patrol may direct a responsible party to remove the aggregate material described in subdivision (d) of Section 23114 from a highway when that material has escaped or been released from a vehicle.
(d)Notwithstanding any other law, a government agency described in subdivision (b), the Department of the California Highway Patrol, or the employees or officers of those
agencies, may not be held liable for any damage to material, to cargo, or to personal property caused by a negligent act or omission of the employee or officer when the employee or officer is acting within the scope and purpose of subdivision (b) or (c). This subdivision does not affect liability for purposes of establishing gross negligence or willful misconduct. This subdivision applies to the negligent performance of a ministerial act, and does not affect liability under any law, including liability, if any, derived from the failure to preserve evidence in a civil or criminal action.
