(a) Except by the written permit of the authority responsible for the closing, a person shall not drive any vehicle over any highway across which there is a barrier or a sign indicating that the highway is closed to public travel.

(b) An authority responsible for closing a highway to public travel may erect a sign, which shall be visible to highway users and proximate to the barrier or sign indicating that the highway is closed to public travel, indicating that violators are subject to penalties and civil damages.

(c) A municipal, county, or State entity that deploys police, fire, ambulance, rescue, or other emergency services in order to aid a stranded operator of a vehicle, or to move a disabled vehicle, operated on a closed highway in violation of this section, may recover from the operator in a civil action the cost of providing the services, if at the time of the violation a sign satisfying the requirements of subsection (b) of this section was installed. (Added 1971, No. 258 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. March 1, 1973; amended 2013, No. 57, § 18.)