I’ll often see traffic signs inside shopping center parking lots; “Right Turn Only”, etc… Often these are signs leading back out on to the street, but not always. As these signs are on private property, I’m wondering if they are put up by the government, or are they put up by the owners of the shopping center (perhaps for liability reasons)?
If they’re put up by the owners, are they legally binding? Quite often, they seem rather arbitrary, and I see people ignoring them all the time - I’d be lying if I said I never had. Could I get a ticket for ignoring these signs?
I’m pretty sure it’s a state by state thing. In know that my states makes a distinction between private property that is private, and that which is for public use. If it’s private property that is open to the public to use, then the normal traffic laws apply. Enforcement might be the problem, but that’s a different issue.
Okay, suppose that state law specifies that all traffic laws and traffic control devices (like stop signs) apply and are enforceable on privately-owned parking lots that are publicly accessible (like at shopping centers). I believe that CA law is like this, or substantially so.
BUT…
Stop signs and other such devices are supposed to be specified by traffic engineers. The law says you must stop at a stop sign, but the law doesn’t say where those stop signs are to be placed. So I’m thinking that a private owner who places his own stop sign on his own property cannot expect it to be enforceable, because no public authority said a stop sign could go there. (Unless there is some blanket law that says they can do it that way.)
So if you blow through such a stop sign, there may not be a question of whether you violated the law, but first there is the question of whether that stop sign meaningfully exists at all.
Put another way: Privately placed stop signs may be nothing more that a private land owner creating his own private law on his own private land, and I see no reason why the State has any business enforcing that. The State isn’t in the private security guard business.
Speed limits are supposed to be set the same way, but if several citizens complain, they’ll get a sign with a lower limit. You will not win in court if you argue that your speed was within the 90% that Federal traffic laws spell out. That’s on a public street but the same principles apply.
If they conform to the Uniform Manual Traffic for Control devices, they need appropriate govenment authority to erect them.
Law, local or state, by statute or case law, may permit an officer to cite on private property. Talking about such as Mall parking lots, now, not a private motor bike area, etc., but something “open to vehicular traffic”.
It depends greatly on the state you are in. In my state of NJ there are a handful of motor vehicle statutes that are enforcable on private property. In general the traffic signs on private property are not enforcable. However, Careless Driving and Reckless Driving are enforcable. So if you blow through the stop sign and plow into another car you won’t be cited for the stop sign but you might get a ticket for careless.
