Motor Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) Order (Northern Ireland) 1997

Part I Preliminary

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Motor Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) Order (Northern Ireland) 1997 and shall come into operation on 7th April 1997.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Order—

“abnormal indivisible load” means a load—

(a)

which cannot without undue expense or risk of damage be divided into two or more loads for the purposes of carriage on roads, and

(b)

which—

(i)

owing to its dimensions, cannot be carried by a heavy motor car or trailer or a combination of heavy motor car and trailer complying in all respects with the requirements of the Construction and Use Regulations, or

(ii)

owing to its weight, cannot be carried by a heavy motor car or trailer or combination of a heavy motor car and trailer having a total laden weight of not more than 38,000 kilograms and complying in all respects with the requirements of the Construction and Use Regulations;

“agricultural motor vehicle”, “agricultural trailer”, “agricultural trailed appliance”, “articulated vehicle”, “engineering plant”, “locomotive”, “overall length”, “overall width”, “overhang”, “registered”, “semi-trailer”, “straddle carrier”, “track-laying” and “wheeled” have the same meanings assigned to those expressions in regulation 2(1) of the Construction and Use Regulations;

“axle” means any number of axles in line transversely;

“bank holiday” means a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971(1);

“bridge authority” means the authority or person responsible for the maintenance of a bridge;

“Construction and Use Regulations” means the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989(2);

“controlled by a pedestrian” has the same meaning as in Article 6(2) of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;

“day” means any day except a bank holiday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, a Sunday or a Saturday;

“dual carriageway road” has the same meaning as in Part IV of the Schedule to the Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989(3);

“hours of darkness” means the time between half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise;

“motorway” has the same meaning as in regulation 1 of the Motorways Traffic Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1984(4);

“relevant axle spacing” has the same meaning as in regulation 75(1) of the Construction and Use Regulations;

“tractor” means a motor tractor.

(2) In this Order the following expressions shall be construed in accordance with all the provisions relating to those expressions which are contained in regulation 79 of the Construction and Use Regulations—

• “combination of vehicles”

• “distance between vehicles”

• “forward projection”

• “lateral projection”

• “rearward projection”

• “special appliance or apparatus”.

Speed Limits

3.  Nothing in this Order relating to the speed of vehicles shall be taken to authorise any speed which is in excess of any other speed limit imposed by or under any enactment.

(1)

1971 c. 80

(2)

S.R. 1989 No. 299; relevant amending Regulations are S.R. 1994 No. 353

(3)

S.R. 1989 No. 203

(4)

S.R. 1984 No. 160