2019 Michigan Compiled Laws
Chapter 257 - Motor Vehicles
Act 300 of 1949 Michigan Vehicle Code (257.1 - 257.923)
300-1949-VI Chapter Vi Obedience to and Effect of Traffic Laws (257.601...257.750)
300-1949-VI-SPECIAL-STOPS-REQUIRED Special Stops Required (257.667...257.671)
Section 257.668 Designating Certain Grade Crossings as "Stop" Crossings or "Yield" Crossings; Signs; Duties of Driver; Cost of Yield Sign Installations; Action for Negligence; Exception for On-Track Equipment; Failure to Stop or Yield as Civil Infraction.
Sec. 668.
(1) The state transportation department with respect to highways under its jurisdiction and the county road commissions and local authorities with respect to highways under their jurisdiction may designate certain grade crossings of railways by highways as "stop" crossings, and erect signs at the crossings notifying drivers of vehicles upon the highway to come to a complete stop before crossing the railway tracks. When a crossing is designated and signposted as provided in this subsection, the driver of a vehicle shall stop not more than 50 feet but not less than 15 feet from the railway tracks. The driver shall then traverse the crossing when it may be done in safety.
(2) The state transportation department with respect to highways under its jurisdiction and the county road commissions and local authorities with respect to highways under their jurisdiction may designate certain grade crossings of railways by highways as yield crossings, and erect signs at the crossings notifying drivers of vehicles upon the highway to yield. Yield signs may be mounted on the same post as the crossbuck sign. Drivers of vehicles approaching a yield sign at the grade crossing of a railway shall maintain a reasonable speed based upon existing conditions and shall yield the right-of-way. The cost of yield sign installations shall be borne equally by the railroad and the governmental authority under whose jurisdiction the highway rests. The erection of or failure to erect, replace, or maintain a stop or yield sign or other railroad warning device, unless the device or sign was ordered by public authority, is not a basis for an action of negligence against the state transportation department, county road commissions, the railroads, or local authorities.
(3) If other on-track equipment does not trigger the activation of an electric or mechanical signal device, and employees of the railroad have followed all applicable railroad operating rules, there is no basis for a civil action against the railroad that operated the other on-track equipment, the state transportation department, a county road commission, or a local authority, or an employee or agent of the railroad that operated the other on-track equipment, the state transportation department, a county road commission, or a local authority.
(4) A person who fails to stop or yield as required by this section is responsible for a civil infraction.
History: 1949, Act 300, Eff. Sept. 23, 1949 ;-- Am. 1953, Act 76, Eff. Oct. 2, 1953 ;-- Am. 1961, Act 179, Eff. Sept. 8, 1961 ;-- Am. 1978, Act 510, Eff. Aug. 1, 1979 ;-- Am. 1980, Act 101, Imd. Eff. Apr. 27, 1980 ;-- Am. 2002, Act 534, Eff. Oct. 1, 2002 ;-- Am. 2018, Act 394, Eff. Mar. 19, 2019
