Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland
ROAD TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES
Made
25th November 1999
Coming into operation
7th January 2000
The Department of the Environment, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Articles 213(1) and 218(1) of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981(1) and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Vehicles (Class 1 Invalid Carriages) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 and shall come into operation on 7th January 2000.
2. In these Regulations—
the “1981 Order” means the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981;
the “1999 Regulations” means the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999(2);
“Class 1 invalid carriage” means an invalid carriage which is not mechanically propelled;
“horn” has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 44(10) of the 1999 Regulations;
“reversing alarm” has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 44(10) of the 1999 Regulations; and
“two-tone horn” has the meaning assigned to it in regulation 44(10) of the 1999 Regulations.
3. In accordance with the terms of Article 213(1) of the 1981 Order, a Class 1 invalid carriage shall not be subject to any statutory provision prohibiting or restricting the use of footways provided that the invalid carriage is being used in accordance with the conditions prescribed in regulations 4 and 5 and complies with the requirements prescribed in regulations 6 and 7.
4. For the purposes of Article 213(1) of the 1981 Order the conditions in accordance with which a Class 1 invalid carriage is being used are—
(a)that it is being used—
(i)by a person falling within a class of persons for whose use it was constructed or adapted, being a person suffering from some physical defect or physical disability;
(ii)by some other person for the purposes only of taking it to, or bringing it away from, any place where work of maintenance or repair is to be or has been carried out to it;
(iii)by a manufacturer for the purposes only of testing or demonstrating it;
(iv)for the purpose only of demonstration by a person offering to sell the invalid carriage; or
(v)by a person solely for giving practical training in its use; and
(b)that any horn fitted to the carriage must not be sounded in the circumstances set out in regulation 5.
5. The circumstances referred to in regulation 4(b) are that the invalid carriage is either—
(a)stationary on a road and is not in danger from another moving vehicle on or near the road; or
(b)in motion on a road which is a restricted road for the purposes of Article 37(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation (Northern Ireland) Order 1997(3) between 2330 hours and 0700 hours in the following morning.
6. For the purposes of Article 213(1) of the 1981 Order a Class 1 invalid carriage shall comply with the requirements in regulation 7.
7.—(1) The unladen weight of a Class 1 invalid carriage shall not exceed 113.4 kilograms.
(2) In this regulation, “unladen weight” means the weight of the invalid carriage inclusive of the weight of water, fuel or accumulators used for the purpose of the supply of power for its propulsion and of loose tools, but exclusive of the weight of any other load or of a person carried by the invalid carriage.
8. The Motor Vehicles (Invalid Carriages) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993(4) are hereby revoked.
Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of the Environment on 25th November 1999.
L.S.
J. Ritchie
Assistant Secretary
(This note is not part of the Regulations.)
These Regulations provide for the use of non-mechanically propelled invalid carriages on footways subject to prescribed conditions and requirements.
The Regulations also revoke the Motor Vehicles (Invalid Carriages) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993.
The Motor Vehicles (Invalid Carriages) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 (S.R. 1999 No. 478) make provision for mechanically propelled invalid carriages with effect from 7th January 2000.
S.I. 1981/154 (N.I. 1); see Article 2(2) for the definition of “Department” and “prescribed”
S.I. 1997/276 (N.I. 2)