(1)A special road shall not be used, except as provided by or under regulations made under the next following subsection, by any traffic other than traffic of a class authorised in that behalf by a scheme under section one of the Special Roads Act, 1949, or section eleven of the Hightways Act, 1959 (or, if the road is one to which the last-mentioned Act applies by virtue of section nineteen thereof, by any traffic other than traffic of a class for the time being authorised by virtue of that section).
(2)The appropriate Minister may make regulations with respect to the use of special roads, and such regulations may, in particular,—
(a)regulate the manner in which and the conditions subject to which special roads may be used by traffic of the class authorised in that behalf by such a scheme as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section or, as the case may be, by virtue of the said section nineteen;
(b)authorise, or enable such authority as may be specified in the regulations to authorise, the use of special 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 the last foregoing subsection 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 a person uses a special road in contravention of this section or of regulations under subsection (2) thereof 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)The provisions of this section, and of any regulations made under subsection (2) thereof, shall not apply to any part of a special road until such date as may be declared by a notice published by the highway authority, in manner prescribed for the publication of notices under subsection (5) of section twenty of this Act, to be the date on which it is open for use as a special road; but nothing in this subsection shall be construed as preventing the making of regulations under subsection (2) of this section so as to come into force, in relation to any such road, on the said date.
(6)In this section "use", in relation to a road, includes crossing.