"Street" is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Street includes highway.
Enacted Stats 1959 ch 3.
ANNOTATIONS
Historical Derivations:
(a) Former Veh C § 81, as enacted Stats 1935 ch 27, amended Stats 1937 ch 282 § 1.
(b) Stats 1923 ch 266 § 21, as amended Stats 1931 ch 1026 § 6.
(c) Stats 1915 ch 188 § 1, as amended Stats 1917 ch 218 § 1, Stats 1919 ch 147 § 1.
(d) Stats 1913 ch 326 § 1.
(e) Stats 1905 ch 612 § 1.
Cross References:
"Freeway": Veh C § 332
"Highway": Veh C §§ 360, 592; Sts & H C § 23
"Private road or driveway": Veh C § 490
"Road": Veh C § 527
"Roadway": Veh C § 530
Exclusions from meaning of "street" or "highway": Veh C § 591
Collateral References:
Attorney General's Opinions:
Highway construction area on state right of way which has never been open to public and has never been dedicated to public use as outside meaning of "highway" or "street". 32 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 29
Existing state highways remaining open to public travel, but subject to traffic control by contractor, as "streets" or "highways". 32 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 29
Portions of existing dedicated highways temporarily withdrawn from public use for construction as outside meaning of "highways" or "streets". 32 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 29
Application of definition of street or highway to roads leading to or used in conjunction with 1960 Winter Olympic Games. 33 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 17
Streets of subdivision that have been offered for dedication by final subdivision map, as highways and streets subject to authority of California Highway Patrol to enforce provisions of Vehicle Code, where dedication has been accepted. 47 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 191
The provisions of the state Vehicle Code are applicable to the roads of the Los Angeles Air Force Base. 85 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 68
NOTES OF DECISIONS
6. Procedure; Jury Instructions
1. In General
The only streets or ways excluded from the broad definition in Vehicle Act of 1923, § 21, were private ways not intended for public use. Atlas Mixed Mortar Co. v Burbank (1927) 202 Cal 660, 262 P 334
Streets and highways are maintained for use of pedestrians as well as for vehicles. Armstrong v Sengo (1936) 17 Cal App 2d 300, 61 P2d 1188
A road used by permission of the owner revocable at any time and in which the public has no vested right of use is not a public street or highway. Sills v Forbes (1939) 33 Cal App 2d 219, 91 P2d 246
Alley needs no definition. Altman v Peirano (1952) 112 Cal App 2d 8, 245 P2d 313
Though federal roads in Yosemite National Park are, in a sense, "publicly maintained" and "open to the use of the public," they are not so maintained and open to such use within meaning of this section, since Secretary of the Interior can, and has, imposed conditions on use of such roads by public. Yosemite Park & Curry Co. v Department of Motor Vehicles (1960, 1st Dist) 177 Cal App 2d 448, 2 Cal Rptr 431
2. Construction
In considering the definitions of the words "highway" and "private road" it is to be borne in mind that when used in this code they are used for the special purpose thereof, and that sections of other codes and the decisions under them relating to the use of the same or similar words can have little bearing on the solution of a problem arising under the sections here under consideration. Sills v Forbes (1939) 33 Cal App 2d 219, 91 P2d 246
Legislative intent to restrict operation of Vehicle Code solely to vehicles on public highways was not indicated by former §§ 31, 81, 140, 250, 403, 410. Webster v Zevin (1947) 77 Cal App 2d 855, 176 P2d 960
3. Streets
"Street" in its usual and ordinary meaning denotes public highway; it does not include private way. B. & H. Transp. Co. v Johnson (1932) 122 Cal App 451, 10 P2d 506
Although under this statute a way or place becomes a street if publicly maintained and open for public vehicular traffic, the mere fact that over a period of years an existing street, including sidewalks, has not required maintenance work, does not alter its character as public property. Sanal v Meador (1952) 108 Cal App 2d 820, 239 P2d 908
A parking strip, comprising a portion of a paved city street adjacent to the curb, is a part of the street. People v Belanger (1966, 2nd Dist) 243 Cal App 2d 654, 52 Cal Rptr 660
Where plaintiff was injured when the pavement of defendant city's paved bike path on which he was riding gave way, the trial court did not err in granting defendant's motion for judgment on the pleadings under Gov C § 831.4. Contrary to plaintiff's assertion, the bike path qualified as a "trail" under the governmental immunity provisions of § 831.4; it was not part of the public streets and highways (as to which immunity would not apply) because it was not open to the public for vehicular travel (Veh C §§ 360, 590), a bicycle not being considered a vehicle (Veh C §§ 231, 670). Moreover, the Legislature intended the immunity under Gov C § 831.4 to apply to a paved trail; the appellate courts have unanimously interpreted the current wording of § 831.4(b) to apply full immunity to any trail, paved or unpaved. Farnham v City of Los Angeles (1998, 2nd Dist) 68 Cal App 4th 1097, 1100, 80 Cal Rptr 2d 720
4. Highways
Vehicle Act of 1923, § 21, is an instance where a statute uses the term "highways" as including city streets in the same broad sense as in Const art XIII, § 15, and in Pol C § 2618. B. & H. Transp. Co. v Johnson (1932) 122 Cal App 451, 10 P2d 506
Whether a roadway open to and used by the public at all times during daylight leading from a cemetery to and into a main highway is a "public highway" or a "private road" is for the jury, under evidence of such facts, where a collision occurred by the act of a driver on the main highway running upon a vehicle coming from the cemetery road into the main highway in the afternoon without yielding the right of way (Vehicle Act of 1923, §§ 21, 22, construed with § 132). Laubscher v Blake (1935) 7 Cal App 2d 376, 46 P2d 836
A "highway" as defined in Vehicle Act of 1923, § 21, and as used in other sections, has various meanings, sometimes describing the improved and traveled part of the way and sometimes the whole width devoted to public use, and sometimes intermediate spaces, and as used in § 150 1/2 it refers to the left-hand edge of any portion of the way which is suitable for pedestrian travel. Scalf v Eicher (1935) 11 Cal App 2d 44, 53 P2d 368
An accident on a roadway open to the public for the purpose of vehicular traffic is on a public highway. People v Odom (1937) 19 Cal App 2d 641, 66 P2d 206
A public highway was intended by former section, since there is no such thing in the Vehicle Code as a private highway. People v Knight (1939) 35 Cal App 2d 472, 96 P2d 173
A highway may have an unbroken course, or it may have intersecting byways through which other traffic may, with reasonably equal rights, enter or depart. Mecchi v Lyon Van & Storage Co. (1940) 38 Cal App 2d 674, 102 P2d 422 (disapproved on other grounds by Alarid v Vanier, 50 Cal 2d 617, 327 P2d 897)
A highway may be either State, county, municipal or even designated as a United States highway. Mecchi v Lyon Van & Storage Co. (1940) 38 Cal App 2d 674, 102 P2d 422 (disapproved on other grounds by Alarid v Vanier, 50 Cal 2d 617, 327 P2d 897)
Roadway and highway are not synonymous. Mecchi v Lyon Van & Storage Co. (1940) 38 Cal App 2d 674, 102 P2d 422 (disapproved on other grounds by Alarid v Vanier, 50 Cal 2d 617, 327 P2d 897)
An open area into which five streets debouch is a highway. Kashevaroff v Webb (1946) 73 Cal App 2d 177, 166 P2d 306
Area blocked off by means of chain and lock and not open to public for vehicular travel is not "highway" within definition of code. Behling v County of Los Angeles (1956, 2nd Dist) 139 Cal App 2d 684, 294 P2d 534
In personal injury action, to satisfy statutory definition in order to have "intersection," there must be at least two "highways," even conceding that intersecting way was public road in sense that it was open to and available for public use, it was not "publicly maintained" and thus could not qualify as "highway." Nunnemaker v Headlee (1956, 3rd Dist) 140 Cal App 2d 666, 295 P2d 438
Term "highway," as used in provisions of Revenue and Taxation Code and Vehicle Code, relating to registration license fees for motor vehicles, and particularly this section, refers to those ways and places constructed, maintained, controlled, located and policed by or under authority of the state or its political subdivisions and agencies, and not to federal roads in Yosemite National Park, and park company did not have to pay registration fees and motor vehicle license fees with respect to vehicles owned by it and operated exclusively on federal roads in the park, until such vehicles were operated on highways of state outside. Yosemite Park & Curry Co. v Department of Motor Vehicles (1960, 1st Dist) 177 Cal App 2d 448, 2 Cal Rptr 431
Public streets and highways are public places (Veh Code §§ 360, 590). People v Belanger (1966, 2nd Dist) 243 Cal App 2d 654, 52 Cal Rptr 660
5. What Highway Includes
Only limitation upon public highway as defined in Vehicle Act of 1923, § 21, was that it did not include private driveways, roads, or places used by owner or by his guests or those having business with him, and not intended to be otherwise used by general public. Atlas Mixed Mortar Co. v Burbank (1927) 202 Cal 660, 262 P 334
A strip along a highway, used for twenty years as part thereof though claimed as private abutting property, is part of a highway within Vehicle Act of 1923, § 21. Villegas v Strohm (1931) 112 Cal App 633, 297 P 588
The shoulder of a road is part of the highway. Ketchum v Pattee (1940) 37 Cal App 2d 122, 98 P2d 1051
Highway is not restricted to the paved, improved or traveled portion of the right of way, but includes that space of whatever nature open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular traffic. Frates v Ghirardi (1941) 48 Cal App 2d 596, 120 P2d 82
6. Procedure; Jury Instructions
In action for damages for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff when defendant's truck suddenly moved forward without warning, striking pedestrian who was using sidewalk, where court after reciting rule as to starting, instructed that "if you find from evidence in this case that defendants or any of them in starting truck upon public highway did not first see that said truck could be started with safety, then defendants or such of them as were responsible for movement of truck were guilty of negligence," considering instruction as a whole, it correctly states, in abstract form, duty of driver of vehicle, either on public highway or private driveway, to other persons under general rule requiring every person to so conduct himself and so to use his property that injury will not result to others thus rendering him liable for his wrongful acts whether wilfully or carelessly done. Withey v Hammond Lumber Co. (1934) 140 Cal App 587, 35 P2d 1080
In personal injury case, where court instructed that "if you find from evidence that place where this accident occurred was not customarily used by general public as thoroughfare, then provisions of statute do not apply," and former Vehicle Act § 21 did not contain word "customarily" insertion of word was not prejudicial. Henslee v Fox (1938) 25 Cal App 2d 286, 77 P2d 307
In action for damages for personal injuries sustained by pedestrian when struck by automobile, where court gave nine instructions based on Vehicle Code including section, they presented no baffling or complicated problem since five of them dealt merely with definitions and remaining three dealt with substantive rules. Petersen v Rieschel (1953) 115 Cal App 2d 758, 252 P2d 986
In action arising out of collision of automobile and bus at intersection of publicly-used public road and highway, court properly refused to give instruction embodying § 21800, providing that driver of vehicle approaching an intersection shall yield right of way to vehicle that has entered intersection from a different "highway," and telling jury that violation of that statute was negligence as matter of law, and conduct was excusable, justifiable and such as might reasonably have been expected of person of ordinary prudence, since word "highway" is defined by section to be a way "publicly maintained" and open to use of public for vehicular travel and "publicly maintained" means maintained by some public agency or body, rule in question not meeting such definitions. Vazquez v Pacific Greyhound Lines (1960, 1st Dist) 178 Cal App 2d 628, 3 Cal Rptr 209
In prosecution for driving vehicle on "highway" while under influence of narcotics, where it was matter of common knowledge that avenue where defendant was arrested was public street, court could take judicial notice that it was such and was therefore "highway" within statute. People v Gurrola (1963, 3rd Dist) 218 Cal App 2d 349, 32 Cal Rptr 368