41-6a-311.  Interference with traffic-control devices prohibited — Traffic signal preemption device prohibited — Exceptions — Defense.

(1)  Except as provided in Subsection (3), a person may not alter, deface, damage, knock down, or remove any:

Attorney's Note

Under the Utah Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class C misdemeanorup to 90 daysup to $750
For details, see Utah Code § 76-3-204

Terms Used In Utah Code 41-6a-311

  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Highway: means the entire width between property lines of every way or place of any nature when any part of it is open to the use of the public as a matter of right for vehicular travel. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Highway authority: means the same as that term is defined in Section 72-1-102. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Motor vehicle: means a vehicle that is self-propelled and a vehicle that is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon rails. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Person: means a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, governmental agency, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Railroad: means a carrier of persons or property upon cars operated on stationary rails. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for the purpose of travel. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Traffic signal preemption device: means an instrument or mechanism designed, intended, or used to interfere with the operation or cycle of a traffic-control signal. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Traffic-control device: means a sign, signal, marking, or device not inconsistent with this chapter placed or erected by a highway authority for the purpose of regulating, warning, or guiding traffic. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Traffic-control signal: means a device, whether manually, electrically, or mechanically operated, by which traffic is alternately directed to stop and permitted to proceed. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
(a)  traffic-control device;

(b)  traffic-monitoring device; or

(c)  railroad traffic-control device.

(2)  Except as provided in Subsection (3), a person may not:

(a)  knowingly use a traffic signal preemption device to interfere with the authorized operation or the authorized cycle of a traffic-control signal; or

(b)  operate a motor vehicle on a highway while in possession of a traffic signal preemption device.

(3)  The provisions of Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to a person authorized by the highway authority or railroad authority with jurisdiction over the device.

(4)  A violation of Subsection (1) or (2) is a class C misdemeanor.

(5)  It is an affirmative defense to a charge under Subsection (2)(b) that the traffic signal preemption device was inoperative and could not be readily used at the time of the citation or arrest.

Amended by Chapter 412, 2015 General Session

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