SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 721
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR WESTFALL.
Pre-filed December 1, 2001, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
2747S.01I
AN ACT
To repeal sections 304.022 and 575.010, RSMo, relating to the operation of motor vehicles, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to the same subject, with penalty provisions.
Section A. Sections 304.022 and 575.010, RSMo, are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 304.022, 575.010 and 575.145, to read as follows:
304.022. 1. Upon the immediate approach of an emergency vehicle giving audible signal by siren or while having at least one lighted lamp exhibiting red light visible under normal atmospheric conditions from a distance of five hundred feet to the front of such vehicle or a flashing blue light authorized by section 307.175, RSMo, the driver of every other vehicle shall yield the right-of-way and shall immediately drive to a position parallel to, and as far as possible to the right of, the traveled portion of the highway and thereupon stop and remain in such position until such emergency vehicle has passed, except when otherwise directed by a police or traffic officer.
2. Upon approaching a stationary emergency vehicle displaying lighted red or red and blue lights, the driver of every motor vehicle shall:
(1) Proceed with caution and yield the right-of-way, if possible with due regard to safety and traffic conditions, by making a lane change into a lane not adjacent to that of the stationary vehicle, if on a roadway having at least four lanes with not less than two lanes proceeding in the same direction as the approaching vehicle; or
(2) Proceed with due caution and reduce the speed of the vehicle, maintaining a safe speed for road conditions, if changing lanes would be unsafe or impossible.
3. The motorman of every streetcar shall immediately stop such car clear of any intersection and keep it in such position until the emergency vehicle has passed, except as otherwise directed by a police or traffic officer.
[3.] 4. An "emergency vehicle" is a vehicle of any of the following types:
(1) A vehicle operated by the state highway patrol, the state water patrol or a state park ranger, those vehicles operated by enforcement personnel by the division of motor carrier and railroad safety of the department of economic development, police or fire department, sheriff, constable or deputy sheriff, federal law enforcement officer authorized to carry firearms and to make arrests for violations of the laws of the United States, traffic officer or coroner or by a privately owned emergency vehicle company;
(2) A vehicle operated as an ambulance or operated commercially for the purpose of transporting emergency medical supplies or organs;
(3) Any vehicle qualifying as an emergency vehicle pursuant to section 307.175, RSMo;
(4) Any wrecker, or tow truck or a vehicle owned and operated by a public utility or public service corporation while performing emergency service;
(5) Any vehicle transporting equipment designed to extricate human beings from the wreckage of a motor vehicle;
(6) Any vehicle designated to perform emergency functions for a civil defense or emergency management agency established pursuant to the provisions of chapter 44, RSMo;
(7) Any vehicle operated by an authorized employee of the department of corrections, who as part of the employee's official duties, is responding to a riot, disturbance, hostage incident, escape or other critical situation where there is the threat of serious physical injury or death, responding to mutual aid call from another criminal justice agency, or in accompanying an ambulance which is transporting an offender to a medical facility;
(8) Any vehicle designated to perform hazardous substance emergency functions established pursuant to the provisions of sections 260.500 to 260.550, RSMo.
[4.] 5. (1) The driver of any vehicle referred to in subsection [3] 4 of this section shall not sound the siren thereon or have the front red lights or blue lights on except when such vehicle is responding to an emergency call or when in pursuit of an actual or suspected law violator, or when responding to, but not upon returning from, a fire;
(2) The driver of an emergency vehicle may:
(a) Park or stand irrespective of the provisions of sections 304.014 to 304.026;
(b) Proceed past a red or stop signal or stop sign, but only after slowing down as may be necessary for safe operation;
(c) Exceed the prima facie speed limit so long as the driver does not endanger life or property;
(d) Disregard regulations governing direction of movement or turning in specified directions;
(3) The exemptions herein granted to an emergency vehicle shall apply only when the driver of any such vehicle while in motion sounds audible signal by bell, siren, or exhaust whistle as may be reasonably necessary, and when the vehicle is equipped with at least one lighted lamp displaying a red light or blue light visible under normal atmospheric conditions from a distance of five hundred feet to the front of such vehicle.
[5.] 6. No person shall purchase an emergency light as described in this section without furnishing the seller of such light an affidavit stating that the light will be used exclusively for emergency vehicle purposes.
[6.] 7. Violation of this section shall be deemed a class C misdemeanor.
575.010. The following definitions shall apply to chapters 575 and 576, RSMo:
(1) "Affidavit" means any written statement which is authorized or required by law to be made under oath, and which is sworn to before a person authorized to administer oaths;
(2) "Government" means any branch or agency of the government of this state or of any political subdivision thereof;
(3) "Highway", means any public road or thoroughfare for vehicles, including state roads, county roads and public streets, avenues, boulevards, parkways or alleys in any municipality;
[(3)] (4) "Judicial proceeding" means any official proceeding in court, or any proceeding authorized by or held under the supervision of a court;
[(4)] (5) "Juror" means a grand or petit juror, including a person who has been drawn or summoned to attend as a prospective juror;
[(5)] (6) "Jury" means a grand or petit jury, including any panel which has been drawn or summoned to attend as prospective jurors;
[(6)] (7) "Official proceeding" means any cause, matter, or proceeding where the laws of this state require that evidence considered therein be under oath or affirmation;
[(7)] (8) "Police animal" means a dog, horse or other animal used in law enforcement or a correctional facility, or by a municipal police department, fire department, search and rescue unit or agency, whether the animal is on duty or not on duty. The term shall include, but not be limited to, accelerant detection dogs, bomb detection dogs, narcotic detection dogs, search and rescue dogs and tracking animals;
[(8)] (9) "Public record" means any document which a public servant is required by law to keep;
[(9)] (10) "Testimony" means any oral statement under oath or affirmation;
[(10)] (11) "Victim" means any natural person against whom any crime is deemed to have been perpetrated or attempted;
[(11)] (12) "Witness" means any natural person:
(a) Having knowledge of the existence or nonexistence of facts relating to any crime; or
(b) Whose declaration under oath is received as evidence for any purpose; or
(c) Who has reported any crime to any peace officer or prosecutor; or
(d) Who has been served with a subpoena issued under the authority of any court of this state.
575.145. It shall be the duty of the operator or driver of any vehicle or the rider of any animal traveling on the highways of this state to stop on signal of any sheriff or deputy sheriff and to obey any other reasonable signal or direction of such sheriff or deputy sheriff given in directing the movement of traffic on the highways. Any person who willfully fails or refuses to obey such signals or directions or who willfully resists or opposes a sheriff or deputy sheriff in the proper discharge of his or her duties shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished as provided by law for such offenses.