(1) The driver of any vehicle shall obey the instructions of any traffic control device applicable thereto placed in accordance with the Nebraska Rules of the Road, unless otherwise directed by a peace officer, subject to the exceptions granted the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle in the rules.

(2) No provision of the rules for which traffic control devices are required shall be enforced against an alleged violator if at the time and place of the alleged violation an official device is not in proper position and sufficiently legible to be seen by a reasonably observant person. Whenever any provision of the rules does not state that traffic control devices are required, such provision shall be effective even though no devices are erected or in place.

(3) Whenever traffic control devices are placed in position approximately conforming to the requirements of the rules, such devices shall be presumed to have been so placed by the official act or direction of lawful authority unless the contrary is established by competent evidence.

(4) Any traffic control device placed pursuant to the rules and purporting to conform with the lawful requirements pertaining to such devices shall be presumed to comply with the requirements of the rules unless the contrary is established by competent evidence.

Annotations

Subsection (5) of this section applies to the operation of an automobile while it is on that part of the road which is closed and requires extreme caution so as to avoid the additional hazards that may be incident to the reason why the road has been closed. Birchem v. Eggers, 236 Neb. 775, 463 N.W.2d 824 (1990) (pursuant to Laws 1993, LB 370, section 211, language from subsection (5) of section 39-609 was placed in section 60-6,115).

A city ordinance regulating funeral processions was a reasonable and valid exercise of the city's police power under section 39-697(1)(c) (transferred to section 60-680) and does not conflict with Nebraska's present right-of-way statutes, this section and section 39-614(1)(a) (transferred to section 60-6,123). Herman v. Lee, 210 Neb. 563, 316 N.W.2d 56 (1982).

This section does not apply to a highway partially barricaded but not closed to traffic. Central Constr. Co. v. Republican City School Dist. No. 1, 206 Neb. 615, 294 N.W.2d 347 (1980).