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Help & SupportChapter 7-1: Definitions2
(a) The following words and phrases used in this title have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Abandoned vehicle" means any vehicle other than a bicycle that is left in one location on public property or on private property without the consent of the owner thereof for a continuous period of more than seventy-two hours.
"Alley" means a street or way within a block set apart for public use, vehicular travel, and local convenience to provide access to the rear or side of abutting lots or buildings.
"Antique vehicle" means a vehicle registered with and licensed as an antique vehicle by the Division of Motor Vehicles of the Colorado State Department of Revenue or the department of motor vehicles of any other state.
"Authorized emergency vehicle" means every vehicle equipped with audible or visual signals meeting the requirements of section 42-4-213, C.R.S., as amended, and operated by a city police officer, city firefighter, or any peace officer, every other vehicle defined as an authorized emergency vehicle by state law, and every bicycle operated by a uniformed peace officer.
"Authorized service vehicle" means such highway or traffic maintenance vehicles as are publicly owned and operated on a highway by or for a governmental agency, the function of which requires the use of service vehicle warning lights as prescribed by state law and such other vehicles having a public service function, including, without limitation, public utility vehicles and tow trucks, as determined by the State Department of Highways under section 42-4-214(5) C.R.S., as amended. Some vehicles may be designated as both an authorized emergency vehicle and an authorized service vehicle.
"Bicycle" means a vehicle propelled solely by human power applied to pedals upon which any person may ride having two tandem wheels or two parallel wheels and one forward wheel, all of which are more than fourteen inches in diameter.
"Bike lane" or "bicycle lane" means that portion of a roadway designated for use by bicycles and distinguished from the portion of the roadway for other vehicular traffic by a paint stripe and other traffic control device. It extends from the stripe to the right-hand edge of the roadway, unless a second stripe delineates a parking lane or lane of vehicular travel adjacent to the right-hand edge of the roadway, in which event the bicycle lane extends from stripe to stripe.
"Bus" means a motor vehicle owned or operated by a public authority and designed for carrying more than ten passengers.
"Bus stop" means an area extending eight feet into the roadway from the curb and extending along the curb between the traffic control signs designating it as such. Where a traffic control sign indicates the bus stop but does not indicate its extent, it extends for fifty feet before the sign. Where the curb is indented on a street where parking is prohibited and a traffic control sign indicates a bus stop in the indented area, the bus stop extends along the entire indented area. For the purposes of this paragraph, signs erected at the curb bearing the words Regional Transportation District, or "The Ride," or the letters R.T.D., or "The Hop," or a symbol for a bus are traffic control signs designating a bus stop.
"Center" or "centerline" means a continuous or broken line marked upon the surface of a roadway by paint or otherwise to indicate the portion of the roadway allocated to traffic proceeding in opposite directions, and if the line is not so painted or otherwise marked, it is an imaginary line in the roadway equally distant from each curb. In the event that a street includes two or more separate one-way roadways, centerline means the left curb of each such roadway.
"Child care center" means a facility required to be licensed under the "Child Care Licensing Act," article 26-6, C.R.S.
"Child restraint system" means any device that is designed to protect, hold, or restrain a child in a motor vehicle in such a way as to prevent or minimize injury to the child in the event of a motor vehicle accident and that conforms to all applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards.
"Commercial vehicle" means any self-propelled or towed vehicle bearing an apportioned plate or having a manufacturer's recommended gross vehicle weight rating of ten thousand one pounds or more, which vehicle is used in commerce on the public highways of this state or is used to transport sixteen or more passengers, including the driver.
"Construction zone" means a portion of a street designated by the city manager or, in the case of state highways, by either the manager or the Colorado Department of Transportation, where maintenance, repair, or construction activities are occurring or will be occurring within four hours. Such designation shall be by an appropriate sign erected or placed in a conspicuous place before the area where the activity is taking place or will be taking place, and shall notify the public that increased penalties for speeding violations are in effect in such zone. The manager or the department shall erect or place a second sign after the zone indicating that the increased penalties for speeding violations are no longer in effect. Such signs may be displayed on any fixed, variable, or movable stand, and may be placed on a moving vehicle if required for the work, which may include, but shall not be limited to, highway painting work.
"Controlled access street" means any street that is a state highway and those portions of any other street, bounded by intersecting streets, that have no established curbcuts.
"Crosswalk" means, where unmarked, that portion of a roadway included within the prolongation or connection of the lateral lines of a sidewalk, sidewalks, or path or paths and, where marked, that portion of a roadway indicated for pedestrian crossing by traffic control markings.
"Curb" or "curb line" means the raised concrete or asphalt edge separating the roadway of a street from the sidewalk, boulevard strip, median strip, path, or other areas, and includes its prolongation across an intersection or junction. Where no curb exists, the edge of that portion of the street improved, designed, or ordinarily used for motor vehicular travel is the curb.
"Driver" means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of the steering, accelerating, or braking controls of a vehicle or the rider of an animal. No person shall be deemed not to be the driver or to drive because a vehicle is out of control except immediately following a collision not proximately caused by a traffic violation of such driver. A person dismounted from a bicycle, moped, or motorcycle and pushing it on foot is a pedestrian, not a driver.
"Driving lane" means a lane available for vehicular traffic, but does not include within its meaning a parking lane, a paved shoulder if the vehicle is a motor vehicle, or a restricted lane if the vehicle being driven is not permitted to be driven within that restricted lane.
"Earphones" means any headset, radio, tape player, or other similar device, which is designed to provide the listener with radio programs, music, or other recorded information through a device which covers all or a portion of both ears.
"Electric assisted bicycle" means a bicycle with a battery powered electric motor with a capacity of no more than four hundred watts continuous input power rating which assists the person pedaling and which is not capable of propelling the bicycle and rider at more than twenty miles per hour on level pavement.
"Firefighter" means any person commissioned as such under the provisions of section 2-5-4, "Identification Card for Firefighters," B.R.C. 1981, and any member of another fire department who is acting under the direction of the City of Boulder Fire Department and is identifiable as a firefighter.
"Flagger" means an employee of a public authority, other than a peace officer or firefighter, acting within the scope of such employee's duties. It also means such employees of private enterprises working on or adjacent to a street or on any street construction project under contract with a public authority or by permit who have been trained and appointed for special traffic duty as street or highway flaggers by the city or the state. Such employees are "flaggers" only when reasonably recognizable as such by wearing the badge, insignia, or uniform of their office.
"Gross vehicle weight rating" or "GVWR" means the value specified by the manufacturer as the maximum loaded weight of a single or a combination (articulated) vehicle, or registered gross weight, whichever is greater. The GVWR of a combination (articulated) vehicle, commonly referred to as the "gross combination weight rating" or "GCWR" is the GVWR of the power unit plus the GVWR of any towed unit.
"Holiday" means New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans' Day, Labor Day, Colorado Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and such additional entire days declared as holidays by city ordinance or state or federal statute. Where the holiday observed differs from the day of the historical event commemorated, the day observed is the holiday for the purposes of traffic law enforcement.
"Inoperable motor vehicle" means any motor vehicle or trailer that does not have a current license plate and validation sticker lawfully affixed thereto or that is apparently inoperable due to being wrecked, dismantled, or partially dismantled or having essential parts missing.
"Intersection" means the area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curblines of two streets that join one another at, or approximately at, right angles or the area within which vehicles traveling upon different streets joining at any other angle may come in conflict, whether or not one such street crosses the other, but the term does not include the junction of any alley with a street. If a street includes two roadways thirty feet or more apart, every crossing of each roadway of such divided street by an intersecting street is a separate intersection. If such intersecting street also includes two roadways thirty feet or more apart, every crossing of such streets is a separate intersection. The farthest applicable points shall be used when measuring.
"Junction" means the intersection of a street with a driveway, alley, parking lot, or any similar established point of entry or exit onto or from a street other than onto or from another street.
"Lane" means the portion of a roadway used for the movement of a single line of vehicles. Unless otherwise indicated by traffic control devices, every undivided roadway on which lanes are not marked or on which the only pavement marking is a centerline shall be deemed to be a two-way street with one lane for vehicular travel in each direction separated by the centerline. The marked or unmarked portion of a street on which parking is permitted is not a separate lane for vehicular travel but is a parking lane.
"Mall" means the Downtown Boulder Mall as defined in section 1-2-1, "Definitions," B.R.C. 1981.
"Moped" is synonymous with motorized bicycle and means a vehicle having two or three wheels, equipped with operable pedals and a helper motor, and not licensed or required to be licensed as a motorcycle, motor-driven cycle, motor scooter, or motor-bicycle under the state vehicle licensing laws.
"Motor vehicle" means any self-propelled vehicle other than a moped or motorized wheelchair.
"Motorcycle" means every motor vehicle designed to travel with not more than three wheels in contact with the ground, except a moped or farm tractor.
"Motorized wheelchair" means a self-propelled vehicle similar in size to a wheelchair and designed for and used by a person with a mobility impairment.
"Neighborhood electric vehicle" means a self-propelled, electrically powered motor vehicle that meets the equipment standards for such vehicles of the Uniform Safety Code of 1935, as amended, of the state and is registered as such as may be required by the laws of the state. Such vehicles are motor vehicles and are authorized to operate upon the streets of the city subject to the provisions of this title.
"Owner" means jointly and severally the person who holds the legal title of a vehicle, the person in whose name the vehicle is registered with the state or any other state for licensing purposes, and any person otherwise having lawful use or control or the right to use or control a vehicle for a period of thirty days or more.
"Park" means, when prohibited, the stopping of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, other than very briefly for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading passengers while the vehicle is occupied.
"Parking meter" means a timing device that is used for the purpose of collecting a fee for parking in a parking space and regulating the time of parking therein, is activated by the insertion of a coin or token and such other action as the device requires, and indicates how much purchased parking time remains.
"Path" means a way publicly maintained that has been designated for use by bicycles only or by bicycles and pedestrians by a traffic control device or other sign or by regulation and that is separated from the roadway for other vehicular traffic by open space, a curb, or another barrier.
"Pay station" means a device other than a parking meter that is used for the purpose of collection of a fee for parking in a parking space and regulating the time of parking therein, is activated by the insertion of a coin, currency, token, key, or payment card, depending on the type of device, and such other action as the device requires for activation. A pay station differs from a parking meter in that it governs more than two parking spaces, including spaces which are not adjacent to the station, requires the user to indicate the space for which payment is being made or to display a printed receipt from the pay station on the dash of the user's vehicle, and does not necessarily indicate to the user or the public whether or not payment is current for a particular space.
"Pedestrian" means:
(1) A person afoot or using a wheelchair or motorized wheelchair; or
(2) A person specifically assigned the rights of a pedestrian by any provision of this title.
"Private driveway" means every surface designed for vehicular travel and not owned by a public authority.
"Private sidewalk" means any walk not within a street that is paved or otherwise improved, designed, or ordinarily used for pedestrians.
"Proximate cause" means that which, in natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by an efficient, intervening cause, produced the result complained of and without which the result would not have occurred.
"Public authority" means the City of Boulder, State of Colorado, or the United States, any of their agencies or instrumentalities, and any body or official thereof possessing power or authority delegated by the public authority.
"Railroad grade crossing" means the intersection of a street and the tracks of a railroad.
"Railroad sign or signal" means any sign, signal, or device erected by a public authority or by any railroad and intended to give notice of the presence of railroad tracks or the approach of a railroad train.
"Right-of-way" means the right of one user of a street to proceed unimpeded in a lawful manner in preference to another person who is approaching under such circumstances of direction, speed, and proximity as to give rise to danger of collision unless one grants precedence to the other. A speed no more than ten miles per hour in excess of the speed limit prescribed by section 7-4-58, "Speeding," B.R.C. 1981, does not cause a forfeiture of the right-of-way, and all persons are presumed to be driving at no more than such a speed until the contrary is established by a preponderance of credible evidence.
"Roadway" means that portion of a street from curb to curb. If a street includes two or more separate roadways, "roadway" refers to any such roadway separately, but not to all such roadways collectively.
"Rotary traffic island" means a median island located in the center portion of an intersection.
"Safe," "safely" and "in safety" mean:
(1) Without hazard to person or property;
(2) Without in any way interfering with, impeding, hindering, obstructing, or taking the right-of-way from any other vehicle or pedestrian;
(3) In an attentive, careful, and prudent manner; and
(4) At a speed such that recovery from errors in judgment is possible.
"Safety belt" means a system utilizing a lap belt, a shoulder belt, or any other belt or combination of belts installed in a motor vehicle to restrain drivers and passengers, which system conformed to federal motor vehicle safety standards at the time of its installation.
"School bus" means every motor vehicle operated for the transportation of children to or from school and owned by a public authority or privately owned and operated for compensation. The term "compensation" does not include informal or intermittent arrangements, such as sharing of actual gasoline expense or participation in a carpool.
"School zone" means any portion of a street designated by an official traffic control device as a school zone, during the time when a lower speed limit for that zone is in effect as indicated on or by such device, or during any other time indicated by a traffic control device as a time for increased vigilance in such zone, and, for the purposes of increased penalties, if the sign also indicates that penalties will be doubled.
"Seating position" means any motor vehicle interior space intended by the motor vehicle manufacturer to provide seating accommodation while the motor vehicle is in motion.
"Sidewalk" means that portion of the sidewalk areas paved or otherwise improved, designed, or ordinarily used for pedestrians and every such walk parallel and adjacent to a roadway, and every other paved exterior walkway publicly maintained.
"Sidewalk area" means the area between the curb of a street and the adjacent property lines.
"State highway" means a street designated as part of the state highway system under the provisions of section 43-2-134, C.R.S., as amended. Designation of the street as a state highway on any map published by the state or the city or marked as such by signs is prima facie evidence of such designation.
"State traffic control manual" means the most recent edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways, including any supplement thereto, as adopted by the Colorado State Highway Commission.
"Stop" means, when required, complete cessation from movement. When prohibited, the term means any halting, even momentarily, of a vehicle except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer, firefighter, or any other person authorized under this title to control traffic, or any traffic control device.
"Street" means the entire width between the property boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel and includes, without limitation, alleys, or the entire width of every way declared to be a public highway by any law.
"Sunrise" and "sunset" mean the time given at latitude 40 degrees north for the day of the year in the current Nautical Almanac, plus one hour during daylight saving time.
"Time" means, whenever certain hours are named herein or on any traffic control sign or parking meter, mountain standard time or mountain daylight time, depending on the date, as prescribed by state law. Mountain standard time is coordinated universal time minus seven hours. Mountain daylight time is coordinated universal time minus six hours.
"Towing carrier" means a person regularly engaged in the business of towing motor vehicles and licensed by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
"Traffic" means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, and vehicles, either singly or together, while using any street for purposes of travel.
"Traffic circle" means an intersection containing a rotary traffic island, and includes that portion of the intersection open and available for counterclockwise vehicular traffic flow around the central island.
"Traffic control device" means any traffic control sign, signal, marking, or device, not inconsistent with this title, placed or displayed by authority of the traffic engineer or of any public official or public body having authority over a street, drive, way, or parking area for the purpose of regulating, warning, or guiding traffic or the parking of vehicles. Where this title does not prescribe the meaning of a device, it has the meaning ascribed to it by the state traffic control manual, and where no such meaning is given, it has the meaning a reasonable person would give it.
"Traffic control marking" means a marking on the pavement of a street placed by a public authority to regulate, warn, or guide traffic.
"Traffic control sign" means a sign on, above, or adjacent to a street placed by a public authority to regulate, warn, or guide traffic.
"Traffic control signal" means a device on, above, or adjacent to a street placed by a public authority by which traffic is alternately directed to proceed and stop by means of the display of colored lights or symbols.
"Traffic engineer" means the city manager, any city employee designated by the manager to act as traffic engineer or assistant traffic engineer, and the supervisors of any person so designated.
"Trailer" means any wheeled vehicle, without motive power, that is designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle.
"Vehicle" means any device that is capable of moving itself, or of being moved, from place to place upon wheels or endless tracks, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
(b) Words defined in chapter 1-2, "Definitions," B.R.C. 1981, have the meanings there expressed if not differently defined by this chapter.
Ordinance Nos. 5058 (1987); 5241 (1989); 5271 (1990); 5638 (1994); 5681 (1994); 5686 (1994); 5848 (1996); 5920 (1997); 6033 (1998); 7021 (1999); 7294 (2003); 7572 (2007)
2 Stout v. Denver Park & Amusement Co., 87 Colo. 294, 287 P. 650 (1930).