Special Roads Act 1949

12 Provisions as to use of special roads

(1) A special road shall not be used, except as provided by or under regulations made under this section, by any traffic other than traffic of the class authorised in that behalf by ; scheme under section one of this Act.

(2) The Minister may make regulations with respect to the us of special roads, and such regulations may, in particular—

(a) regulate the manner in which and the conditions subject to which such roads may be used by traffic of the classes authorised in that behalf by a scheme under: section one of this Act;

(b) authorised, or enable such authority as may be specified in the regulations to authorised, the use of such roads, on occasion or in emergency or for the purpose of crossing, or for the purpose of securing access to premises abutting on or adjacent to the roads, by traffic other than such traffic as aforesaid, or relax or enable any such authority as aforesaid to relax any prohibition or restriction imposed by the regulations.

(3) Regulations made under this section may make provision with respect to special roads generally, or may make different provision with respect to special roads provided for the use of different classes of traffic, or may make provision with respect to any particular special road.

(4) If any person uses a special road in contravention of this section or of any such regulations as aforesaid, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds, or in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.

(5) Notwithstanding anything in section one of the Road Traffic Act, 1934, no part of a special road shall be deemed to be in a built-up area within the meaning of that Act.

(6) The power of the Minister under subsection (4) of section ten of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, to make regulations varying the provisions of the First Schedule to that Act (which prescribes the maximum speeds at which motor vehicles of the classes or descriptions specified therein shall be driven) shall include power to make special regulations varying those provisions in relation to vehicles when driven on special roads.

(7) Section forty-six of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, and section twenty-nine of the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933 (which confer power on the Minister and certain local authorities to restrict the use of vehicles on specified roads or classes of roads) and section ten of the London Traffic Act, 1924 (which confers power on the Minister to make regulations with respect to road traffic generally in the London Traffic Area) shall not apply in relation to any special road.

(8) The provisions of this section, and of any regulations made thereunder, shall not apply to any part of a special road until such date as may be declared by a notice published in the prescribed manner by the highway authority to be the date on which it is open for use as a special road :

Provided that nothing in this subsection shall be construed as preventing the making of regulations under subsection (1) of this section so as to come into force, in relation to any such road, on the said date.