Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:296 – Stopping, parking, or standing upon the highway shoulder; driving upon the highway shoulder
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:296
- Department: means the Department of Transportation and Development. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Driver: means every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place of whatever nature publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for the purpose of vehicular travel, including bridges, causeways, tunnels and ferries; synonymous with the word "street". See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- parking: means the standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in loading or unloading merchandise or passengers. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- person: includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 1:10
- Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular traffic, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Shoulder: means the portion of the highway contiguous with the roadway for accommodation of stopped vehicles, for emergency use, pedestrian use, mobility aid use, bicycle use, and for lateral support of base and surface. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- standing: means the halting of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, otherwise than temporarily for the purpose of and while actually engaged in receiving or discharging passengers. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Stop: means , when required, the complete cessation from movement. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- stopping: means , when prohibited, any halting, even momentarily of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the directions of a police officer, weights and standards police officer, or traffic control sign or signal. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
- Vehicle: means every device by which persons or things may be transported upon a public highway or bridge, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:1
A. No person shall stop, park, or leave standing any unattended vehicle on any state highway shoulder, unless such stopping, parking, or standing is made necessary by an emergency, except:
(1) In those areas designated as parking areas by the Department of Transportation and Development, or
(2) By any public utility personnel or public utility equipment engaged in the operation of the utility business, public vehicles owned by public bodies which are engaged in the conduct of official business, or privately owned vehicles which are engaged in services authorized by the local governing authority.
(3) Persons riding bicycles shall be allowed to operate on the shoulder of a roadway.
B. In case of an emergency, the driver of a vehicle may lawfully operate the vehicle on any state highway shoulder in accordance with the normal standards of prudent conduct to protect himself and others from harm. When the emergency ends, the vehicle shall not be operated on the state highway shoulder.
C. If the vehicle is not removed from the highway within twenty-four hours, the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 32:473.1(B) shall apply.
Acts 1984, No. 928, §1, Acts 1997, No. 117, §1; Acts 2008, No. 429, §1, eff. June 21, 2008; Acts 2010, No. 618, §2.