Title 31, Title 31 and Other Vehicles

The state traffic commission is authorized to determine those portions of any highway where overtaking and passing or driving to the left of the roadway would be especially hazardous and may by appropriate signs or markings on the roadway indicate the beginning and end of the zon…

(a) The state traffic commission may designate any highway or any separate roadway under its jurisdiction for one-way traffic and shall erect appropriate signs giving notice of one-way traffic. (b) Upon a roadway designated and signposted for one-way traffic a vehicle shall be dr…

No person shall start a vehicle which is stopped, standing, or parked unless and until the movement can be made with reasonable safety. Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.

All signals required in this chapter when given by hand and arm shall be given from the left side of the vehicle in the following manner and the signals shall indicate as follows: (1) Left turn. Hand and arm extended horizontally; (2) Right turn. Hand and arm extended upward; (3)…

The driver of a vehicle intending to turn at an intersection shall do so as follows: (1) Right turns. (i) Both the approach for a right turn and a right turn shall be made as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway. (ii) Pedestrians intending to cross a…

(a) Local authorities in their respective jurisdictions may place markers, buttons, or signs within or adjacent to intersections, and require and direct that a different course from that specified in § 31-16-2 be traveled by vehicles turning at an intersection, and when markers, …

No vehicle shall be turned so as to proceed in the opposite direction upon any curve or upon the approach to, or near the crest of a grade, where the vehicle cannot be seen by the driver of any other vehicle approaching from either direction within five hundred feet (500′). Viola…

No person shall turn a vehicle at an intersection unless the vehicle is in proper position upon the roadway as required in §§ 31-16-2 and 31-16-3, or turn a vehicle to enter a private road or driveway, or otherwise turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a …

A signal of intention to turn right or left when required shall be given continuously during not less than the last one hundred feet (100′) traveled by the vehicle before turning. Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.

Any person who violates the provisions of § 31-16-2 pertaining to the right-of-way of pedestrians, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than seventy-five ($75.00).

No person shall stop or suddenly decrease the speed of a vehicle without first giving an appropriate signal in the manner described in this chapter to the driver of any vehicle immediately to the rear when there is opportunity to give the signal. Violations of this section are su…

Any stop or turn signal when required in this chapter shall be given either by means of the hand and arm or by a signal lamp or lamps or mechanical signal device, except as otherwise provided in § 31-16-9. Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.

Any motor vehicle in use on a highway shall be equipped with, and required signal shall be given by, a signal lamp or lamps or mechanical signal device when the distance from the center of the top of the steering post to the left outside limit of the body, cab, or load of the mot…

(a) The driver of a vehicle approaching an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to a vehicle which has entered the intersection from a different highway. (b) When two vehicles enter an intersection from different highways at approximately the same time, the driver of the veh…

(a) The driver of a vehicle within an intersection intended to turn to the left or right shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or so close to it as to constitute an immediate hazard, or shall yield to …

The driver of a vehicle shall stop at the entrance to a through highway and shall yield the right-of-way to other vehicles which have entered the intersection from the through highway, or which are approaching so closely on the through highway as to constitute an immediate hazard…

(a) Preferential right-of-way at an intersection may be indicated by stop signs or yield signs. (b) Except when directed to proceed by a police officer or traffic-control signal, every driver of a vehicle approaching a stop intersection indicated by a stop sign shall stop at a cl…

The driver of a vehicle about to enter or cross a highway from a private road or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles approaching on the highway and to all pedestrians attempting to cross the private road driveway or highway. Violations of this section are subjec…

Any person who violates any provision of §§ 31-17-1 — 31-17-5, pertaining to the right-of-way of pedestrians, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than seventy-five ($75.00).

(a) Upon the immediate approach of an authorized emergency vehicle equipped with at least one lighted lamp exhibiting any one or combination of red, blue, or white light visible under normal atmospheric conditions from a distance of five hundred feet (500′) to the front of the ve…

The officers and men and women of the fire department, of any fire engine or hose company, or of any protective department or company duly chartered and organized under the laws of this state for the protection of property from fire in any city or town, with their registered fire…

(a) In the absence of any traffic control device or sign, the driver of a vehicle about to enter a rotary, regardless of the direction from which the vehicle is approaching, shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles already in the rotary. The state traffic commission shall det…

(a) The driver of a vehicle about to cross or to turn left or right across a bicycle lane shall yield the right-of-way to any person operating a bicycle or motorized wheelchair upon the bicycle lane. (b) Any driver of a vehicle convicted of violating the provisions of this sectio…

Pedestrians shall be subject to traffic control signals at intersections as provided in §§ 31-13-6 and 31-13-7, unless required by local ordinance to comply strictly with the signals, but at all other places pedestrians shall be accorded the privileges and shall be subject to the…

Where sidewalks are provided it shall be unlawful for any pedestrian to walk along and upon an adjacent roadway. Where sidewalks are provided it shall be lawful for a person to run or jog along and upon an adjacent roadway, and if the person shall begin to walk he or she shall wa…

(a) Where sidewalks are not provided any person walking, jogging, or running along and upon a highway shall, when practicable, walk, jog or run only on the left side of the roadway or its shoulder facing traffic which may approach from the opposite direction. Under no circumstanc…

If any portion or provision of §§ 31-18-10 and 31-18-11 is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, the remaining parts or provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

No person shall stand in a roadway for the purpose of soliciting a ride from the driver of any vehicle. Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.

It is unlawful for any person, unless totally or partially blind, while on any public street or highway, to carry in a raised or extended position a cane or walking stick which is white in color or white tipped with red.

Whenever a pedestrian is crossing or attempting to cross a public street or highway guided by a seeing-eye guide dog or a hearing-ear signal dog clearly identified as such by a yellow harness, which has been trained and educated to guide and assist the pedestrian in traveling upo…

Nothing contained in §§ 31-18-13 — 31-18-16 shall be construed to deprive any person who is blind, visually impaired, or deaf, but not carrying a cane or walking stick, or not being guided by a dog, of the rights and privileges conferred by law upon pedestrians crossing streets o…

Any person who violates any provision of §§ 31-18-13 — 31-18-15, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to pay a fine not more than two hundred fifty dollars ($250).

Any person who shall violate the provisions of § 31-13-6(3)(i) at an intersection where a pedestrian is crossing or attempting to cross a public street or highway guided by a seeing-eye dog or a hearing-ear signal dog, clearly identified by a yellow harness, which has been traine…

Any pedestrian who shall cross any freeway as defined by § 24-10-1, except in an emergency or to render assistance in case of an accident or unforeseen cause, shall be deemed to be guilty of a civil violation.

The driver of a vehicle crossing a sidewalk shall yield the right-of-way to all traffic proceeding along and upon the sidewalk. Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.

A violation of any provision of this chapter by a child under the age of fourteen (14) shall not constitute negligence per se although a violation may be considered as evidence of negligence.

Local authorities are empowered by ordinance to require that pedestrians shall strictly comply with the directions of any official traffic control signal and may by ordinance prohibit pedestrians from crossing any roadway in a business district or any designated highways except i…

(a) Every person operating a wheelchair upon a sidewalk or roadway shall be granted all the rights and shall be subject to all the duties applicable to a pedestrian. (b) Every person riding a motorized wheelchair on a bicycle lane, trail or path shall be granted all the rights an…

(a) Any wheelchair, motorized or manual, operating upon roadways, when in use at nighttime, shall be equipped with: a lamp on the front which shall emit a white light visible from a distance of at least five hundred (500′) feet to the front. (b) Every wheelchair shall be equipped…

Where sidewalks with curb-cuts and at least thirty-two (32) inches of unobstructed clear width are provided it shall be unlawful for any user of a manual or motorized wheelchair to wheel along and upon an adjacent roadway.

Except in the cases of limited access roads, and/or roads of less than twenty-three feet (23′) in width, the director of the department of transportation is authorized and directed to provide for the accommodation of bicycle and pedestrian traffic in the planning, design, constru…

A program of public information and education designed to educate the motoring public to the rights of pedestrians shall be developed by the department of transportation’s office on highway safety. The department of transportation’s office on highway safety, in cooperation with t…

(a) When traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right of way, slowing down or stopping if need be to so yield, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadwa…

(a) Whenever any vehicle is stopped at a marked crosswalk or at any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle. (b) Whenever there are…

Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway. Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.

Any pedestrian crossing a roadway at a point where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been provided shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.