Section 22654 Of Article 1. Authority To Remove Vehicles From California Vehicle Code >> Division 11. >> Chapter 10. >> Article 1.
22654
. (a) Whenever any peace officer, as that term is defined in
Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the
Penal Code, or other employee directing traffic or enforcing parking
laws and regulations, finds a vehicle standing upon a highway,
located within the territorial limits in which the officer or
employee is empowered to act, in violation of Sections 22500 and
22504, the officer or employee may move the vehicle or require the
driver or other person in charge of the vehicle to move it to the
nearest available position off the roadway or to the nearest parking
location, or may remove and store the vehicle if moving it off the
roadway to a parking location is impracticable.
(b) Whenever the officer or employee finds a vehicle standing upon
a street, located within the territorial limits in which the officer
or employee is empowered to act, in violation of a traffic ordinance
enacted by local authorities to prevent flooding of adjacent
property, he or she may move the vehicle or require the driver or
person in charge of the vehicle to move it to the nearest available
location in the vicinity where parking is permitted.
(c) Any state, county, or city authority charged with the
maintenance of any highway may move any vehicle which is disabled or
abandoned or which constitutes an obstruction to traffic from the
place where it is located on a highway to the nearest available
position on the same highway as may be necessary to keep the highway
open or safe for public travel. In addition, employees of the
Department of Transportation may remove any disabled vehicle which
constitutes an obstruction to traffic on a freeway from the place
where it is located to the nearest available location where parking
is permitted; and, if the vehicle is unoccupied, the department shall
comply with the notice requirements of subdivision (d).
(d) Any state, county, or city authority charged with the
maintenance or operation of any highway, highway facility, or public
works facility, in cases necessitating the prompt performance of any
work on or service to the highway, highway facility, or public works
facility, may move to the nearest available location where parking is
permitted, any unattended vehicle which obstructs or interferes with
the performance of the work or service or may remove and store the
vehicle if moving it off the roadway to a location where parking is
permitted would be impracticable. If the vehicle is moved to another
location where it is not readily visible from its former parked
location or it is stored, the person causing the movement or storage
of the vehicle shall immediately, by the most expeditious means,
notify the owner of the vehicle of its location. If for any reason
the vehicle owner cannot be so notified, the person causing the
vehicle to be moved or stored shall immediately, by the most
expeditious means, notify the police department of the city in which
the vehicle was parked, or, if the vehicle had been parked in an
unincorporated area of a county, notify the sheriff's department and
nearest office of the California Highway Patrol in that county. No
vehicle may be removed and stored pursuant to this subdivision unless
signs indicating that no person shall stop, park, or leave standing
any vehicle within the areas marked by the signs because the work or
service would be done, were placed at least 24 hours prior to the
movement or removal and storage.
(e) Whenever any peace officer finds a vehicle parked or standing
upon a highway in a manner so as to obstruct necessary emergency
services, or the routing of traffic at the scene of a disaster, the
officer may move the vehicle or require the driver or other person in
charge of the vehicle to move it to the nearest available parking
location. If the vehicle is unoccupied, and moving the vehicle to a
parking location is impractical, the officer may store the vehicle
pursuant to Sections 22850 and 22852 and subdivision (a) or (b) of
Section 22853. If the vehicle so moved or stored was otherwise
lawfully parked, no moving or storage charges shall be assessed
against or collected from the driver or owner.