SB1284 - 572R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 28-645, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE28-645. Traffic control signal legend

A. If traffic is controlled by traffic control signals exhibiting different colored lights or colored lighted arrows successively one at a time or in combination, only the colors green, red and yellow shall be used, except for special pedestrian signals carrying a word legend. The lights shall indicate and apply to drivers of vehicles and pedestrians as follows:

1. Green indication:

(a) Vehicular traffic facing a green signal may proceed straight through or turn right or left unless a sign at that place prohibits either turn. Vehicular traffic, including vehicles turning right or left, shall yield the right-of-way to other vehicles and to pedestrians lawfully within the intersection or an adjacent crosswalk at the time the signal is exhibited.

(b) Vehicular traffic facing a green arrow signal, shown alone or in combination with another indication, may cautiously enter the intersection only to make the movement indicated by such arrow or such other movement as is permitted allowed by other indications shown at the same time. Vehicular traffic shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians lawfully within an adjacent crosswalk and to other traffic lawfully using the intersection.

(c) Unless otherwise directed by a pedestrian control signal as provided in section 28-646, pedestrians facing any green signal, except if the sole green signal is a turn arrow, may proceed across the roadway within any marked or unmarked crosswalk.

2. Steady yellow indication:

(a) Vehicular traffic facing a steady yellow signal is warned by the signal that the related green movement is being terminated or that a red indication will be exhibited immediately thereafter when vehicular traffic shall not enter the intersection.

(b) Unless otherwise directed by a pedestrian control signal as provided in section 28-646, pedestrians facing a steady yellow signal are advised by the signal that there is insufficient time to cross the roadway before a red indication is shown and a pedestrian shall not then start to cross the roadway.

3. Red indication:

(a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c) of this paragraph, vehicular traffic facing a steady red signal alone shall slow the vehicle to a cOMPLETE stop before entering the intersection and shall remain standing until an indication to proceed is shown. A violation of this subdivision occurs if a vehicle fails to slow to a complete stop and but for another vehicle or other obstruction would have entered the intersection. On receipt of a record of judgment for a violation of this subdivision or an act in another jurisdiction that if committed in this state would be a violation of this section, the department shall order the person to attend and successfully complete traffic survival school educational sessions within sixty days after the department issues the order. Notwithstanding section 28-3315, if the person fails to attend or successfully complete traffic survival school educational sessions, the department shall suspend the person's driving privilege pursuant to section 28-3306 until the person attends and successfully completes traffic survival school educational sessions. A person whose driving privilege is suspended pursuant to this subdivision may request a hearing. If the person requests a hearing, the department shall conduct the hearing as prescribed in section 28-3306. A law enforcement officer or a jurisdiction issuing a citation to a person who violates this subdivision shall provide written notice to the person that if eligible, the person may attend defensive driving school or, if not eligible or if the person chooses not to attend defensive driving school and is found responsible or enters a plea of responsible for a violation of this subsection, the person must attend and successfully complete traffic survival school educational sessions. The notice shall include a reference to red light violations and state that if the person is required to attend traffic survival school the person will receive notice from the motor vehicle division.

(b) The driver of a vehicle that is stopped in obedience to a red signal and as close as practicable at the entrance to the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection, or if there is no crosswalk, then at the entrance to the intersection, may make a right turn but shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and other traffic proceeding as directed by the signal. A right turn may be prohibited against a red signal at any intersection if a sign prohibiting the turn is erected at the intersection.

(c) The driver of a vehicle on a one-way street that intersects another one-way street on which traffic moves to the left shall stop in obedience to a red signal but may then make a left turn into the one-way street. The driver shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and other traffic proceeding as directed by the signal at the intersection, except that such left turn may be prohibited if a sign prohibiting the turn is erected at the intersection.

(d) Unless otherwise directed by a pedestrian control signal as provided in section 28-646, a pedestrian facing a steady red signal alone shall not enter the roadway.

B. If an official traffic control signal is erected and maintained at a place other than an intersection, this section applies except as to those provisions of this section that by their nature can have no application. Any stop required shall be made at a sign or marking on the pavement indicating where the stop shall be made, but in the absence of a sign or marking the stop shall be made at the signal.

C. The driver of a vehicle approaching an intersection that has an official traffic control signal that is inoperative shall bring the vehicle to a complete stop before entering the intersection and may proceed with caution only when it is safe to do so. If two or more vehicles approach an intersection from different streets or highways at approximately the same time and the official traffic control signal for the intersection is inoperative, the driver of each vehicle shall bring the vehicle to a complete stop before entering the intersection and the driver of the vehicle on the left shall yield the right-of-way to the driver of the vehicle on the right. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 28-672, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE28-672. Causing serious physical injury or death by a moving violation; time limitation; penalties; violation; classification; definition

A. A person is guilty of causing serious physical injury or death by a moving violation if the person violates any one of the following and the violation results in or occurs simultaneously with or in the course of an accident causing serious physical injury or death to another person:

1. Section 28-645, subsection A, paragraph 3, subdivision (a).

2. Section 28-710.

3. Section 28-729.

4. Section 28-771.

5. Section 28-772.

6. Section 28-773.

7. Section 28-792.

8. Section 28-794.

9. Section 28-797, subsection F, G, H or I.

10. Section 28-855, subsection B.

11. Section 28-857, subsection A.

12. Section 28-914.

B. A person who violates this section shall attend and successfully complete traffic survival school educational sessions that are designed to improve the safety and habits of drivers and that are approved by the department. In addition, the court may order the person to perform community restitution.

C. The court shall report a conviction for a violation of this section to the department and:

1. For a first violation of this section, shall direct the department to suspend the person's driving privilege or restrict the person's driving privilege as described in section 28-144 for at least ninety days and not more than one hundred eighty days if the violation results in serious physical injury and at least one hundred eighty days and not more than one year if the violation results in death.

2. For a second or subsequent violation of this section within a period of thirty-six months, shall direct the department to suspend the person's driving privilege for one hundred eighty days if the violation results in serious physical injury and one year if the violation results in death.

D. If a person's driving privilege is suspended pursuant to any other statute because of an incident involving a violation of this section, the suspension period prescribed in subsection C of this section shall run consecutively with the other suspension period.

E. If a person fails to successfully complete traffic survival school educational sessions or perform community restitution pursuant to this section, the court shall notify the department and the department shall promptly suspend the driver license or permit of the driver or the privilege of a nonresident to drive a motor vehicle in this state until the order is satisfied.

F. If the person who suffers serious physical injury as a result of a violation of this section appears before the court in which the action is pending at any time before trial and acknowledges receipt of satisfaction for the injury, on payment of the costs incurred, the court shall order that the prosecution be dismissed and the defendant be discharged. The reasons for the order shall be set forth and entered of record, and the order shall be a bar to another prosecution for the same offense.

G. Restitution awarded pursuant to section 13-603 as a result of a violation of this section shall not exceed $100,000.

H. A prosecution for a violation of this section must be commenced within two years after actual discovery of the offense by the state or the political subdivision having jurisdiction or discovery by the state or the political subdivision that should have occurred with the exercise of reasonable diligence, whichever first occurs.

I. A person who violates this section is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor.

J. For the purposes of this section, "serious physical injury" has the same meaning prescribed in section 13-105. END_STATUTE