§237. Barricades, signs, and signals; prohibition against tampering with, removing, possessing, and violating instructions; exceptions

A.(1) No one shall in any way tamper with, move, damage, or destroy any barricade, sign, or signal placed upon any highway by the department or by any contractor or subcontractor doing highway construction or repair work under or by authority of the department; nor shall any person disobey the instructions, signals, warnings, or markings of any warning signs, signals, or barricades so placed upon any highway under construction or repair; nor shall any person disobey the instructions, signals, or warnings of any flagman; nor shall any person drive around or through any barricade or fences placed upon any closed highway by the department or any contractor or subcontractor doing highway construction or repair work under or by authority of the department unless at the time otherwise directed by a police officer.

(2) No individual shall without proper authority:

(a) Sell or purchase any official sign or signal of the department, or

(b) Remove or possess such sign or signal without the intention of returning the sign or signal to its original location.

B. Persons violating this Section shall be prima facie at fault and responsible for any damage to persons or property resulting from the said violation. Nothing contained in this Section shall be construed to affect the liability of any other persons for failure to properly maintain warnings and markings of construction work.

C. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to the employees of the department or of any contractor or subcontractor or other person whose proper and lawful duties require them to go upon any portion of a highway which is under construction or in the process of being repaired, nor shall the presence of such persons, or that of machinery being operated by them, upon any portion of a highway, which is under construction or in the process of being repaired, be deemed negligent.

D. Nothing contained in this Section shall be construed to prevent or interfere with peaceful picketing by a labor organization.

E. Every person convicted of a violation of this Section shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days or by both such fine and imprisonment.

Acts 1962, No. 310, §1. Amended by Acts 1975, No. 256, §1; Acts 1984, No. 809, §1; Acts 1989, No. 122, §1, eff. June 22, 1989; Acts 1997, No. 1145, §1.