Do You Really Always Need Insurance?

Q: Can a person receive a ticket for driving without insurance on private property?

A: The short answer: Yes. If you had asked, “Can a person receive a ticket on private property?” the answer would have been much longer. And now for the longer answer: Most traffic violations apply when a driver is on a public roadway, but some traffic laws apply statewide. I’ll explain how to identify which rules belong just to the road and which ones are anywhere in the state.

Continue reading “Do You Really Always Need Insurance?”

Church – A Sanctuary From Traffic Crimes?

Q: If you were pulled over and you had to pull into a church parking lot is it legal for the officer to arrest you on church property?

A: Back when I was a kid, when we played tag we’d often designate a base; let’s say it was the tetherball pole. As long as you were touching the pole, the person who was “it” couldn’t tag you. In present day United States we don’t have a legal equivalent to “base” in the game of tag. If you could travel back in time 800 years and get yourself to England, you might be able to benefit from the sanctuary laws at that time that would allow a criminal to seek temporary refuge at a church. But 800 years ago in England you wouldn’t have been driving in the first place. Continue reading “Church – A Sanctuary From Traffic Crimes?”

Driving From Private Property to Public Roads

Q: If I leave a parking lot that is private property and a sign on the property says right turn only, can I get cited for make a left turn, even if there is no oncoming traffic?

A: Yes, but I think I understand where you’re coming from. Outside of a few criminal violations like DUI and reckless driving, traffic laws are not usually enforced on private property. There are a few exceptions, which I covered in a previous Road Rules article. However, it’s a little different when the private property meets the public roadway. At a minimum, the law requires drivers coming from a private road or driveway to yield to traffic on the public road. Continue reading “Driving From Private Property to Public Roads”

Fences, Shrubs and Traffic Laws

Q: My view of oncoming traffic when making a left turn onto a busy street is obscured by a tall fence installed very close to the street. I cannot have a full view of cross-traffic without moving up very close to the busy street. This seems quite dangerous. Are there rules about fences or shrubs blocking views of traffic at corners where drivers are making turns?

A: I think most drivers at some point have encountered an intersection like you’ve described and asked the same question: “Isn’t there a law about this?” If you searched through the traffic section of the Revised Code of Washington you wouldn’t find anything. And if you expanded your search into other sections of the RCW the best you might find is a law that allows the Department of Transportation to remove obstructions from the side of state highways. Continue reading “Fences, Shrubs and Traffic Laws”

Traffic Enforcement on Private Property

Q: Can the Police ticket you for not stopping at a stop sign, speeding, or other such traffic violations while driving on a privately owned roadway such as a parking lot?

A: That’s a great question, and there’s more to it than just a simple yes or no. Let’s start with the generalities. The opening line of RCW 46.61 (the “Rules of the Road” section of the law) specifies that this chapter applies “exclusively to the operation of vehicles on highways” but is followed by “except . . .” We’ll get to the “except” later. First, let’s define highways. When I hear the word “highways” I think of I-5 or Mount Baker Highway, but a highway is any publicly maintained road that is open to public vehicular travel. Pretty much, if you can drive on it and it was built with taxpayer money, it’s a highway. That means officers can enforce all traffic laws on everything from a busy arterial to a quiet neighborhood street, but not on private property.

Before anyone gets any ideas, this isn’t a free pass to drive like a madman (or woman) in the mall parking lot. That word “except” is followed by some traffic violations that officers can enforce on private property. These include impaired driving, reckless driving, negligent driving, vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and hit-and-run traffic collisions. I think we can agree that even on private property, those kinds of actions deserve to be investigated and the laws prohibiting them enforced. To get back to the original question, failing to stop for a stop sign in a parking lot wouldn’t get a driver a traffic infraction, but if in the process of not stopping the driver showed complete disregard for the safety of others the driver could get arrested.

If you looked up the RCW that we’ve been discussing, you’ll notice another exception. The law states that the highway limitations don’t apply “where a different place is specifically referred to in a different section.” at first I found that to be a puzzling statement, but I did find another section of the RCW that specifically refers to another place: streets within a Home Owner Association (HOA). Officers can enforce speed laws on private roads in neighborhoods where a majority of the HOA has voted to approve enforcement and has met a few other related requirements.

While we’re on the topic of neighbor associations, private communities can also chose to do their own traffic enforcement. We have an example of that here in Whatcom County with Birch Bay Village. In this gated neighborhood, private security officers enforce the rules of the association, including traffic rules. They can write tickets, and anyone contesting a ticket does so in front of a local judge.