Road Traffic Act 1960

Speed Limits on restricted Roads

19 General speed limit for restricted roads

(1) It shall not be lawful for a person to drive a motor vehicle on a restricted road at a speed exceeding thirty miles per hour.

(2) A direction may be given as respects any specified restricted road that the foregoing subsection shall have effect as if it imposed a limit of speed of forty miles per hour.

(3) The Minister and the Secretary of State, acting jointly, may by order made by statutory instrument and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament increase or reduce the rate of speed fixed by subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section, either as originally enacted or as varied under this subsection.

20 What roads restricted

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a road is a restricted road for the purposes of the last foregoing section if there is provided thereon a system of street lighting furnished by means of lamps placed not more than two hundred yards apart.

(2) A trunk road or classified road is not a restricted road for the purposes of the last foregoing section by reason only of the provision thereon of such a system of street lighting as aforesaid unless such a system was provided thereon before the first day of July, nineteen hundred and fifty-seven.

(3) A direction may be given that a specified road which is a restricted road for the purposes of the last foregoing section shall cease to be a restricted road for those purposes or that a specified road which is not a restricted road for those purposes shall become a restricted road for those purposes.

(4) In any proceedings for a contravention of the last foregoing section—

(a) a certificate of an officer of the highway authority for any road stating whether such a system of street lighting as aforesaid was provided thereon before the first day of July, nineteen hundred and fifty-seven; and

(b) a certificate of an officer of the appropriate Minister that a road is or is not a trunk road or a classified road,

shall be evidence of the facts certified; and a document purporting to be such a certificate and to be signed by such an officer as is mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection shall be deemed to be such a certificate unless the contrary is shown.

(5) No part of a special road shall be a restricted road for the purposes of the last foregoing section on or after such date as may be declared by a notice published by the highway authority, in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations made by the appropriate Minister, to be the date on which it is open for use as a special road.

21 Provisions as to directions under sections 19 and 20

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the authority having power to give a direction under subsection (2) of section nineteen of this Act or subsection (3) of the last foregoing section—

(a) as respects a road outside the London Traffic Area, not being a trunk road, shall be the local authority;

(b) as respects a road in the London Traffic Area, not being a trunk road, shall be the Minister;

(c) as respects a trunk road, shall be the appropriate Minister.

(2) A direction given in a case falling within paragraph (a) of the foregoing subsection shall be given by means of an order made by the local authority after giving public notice of their intention to make an order and after consultation with the chief officer of police and with the consent of the appropriate Minister.

(3) A direction given in a case falling within paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section shall be given by means of an order made, by statutory instrument, by the Minister after giving public notice of his intention to make an order and after consultation with the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee.

(4) A direction given in a case falling within paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section shall be given by means of an order made, by statutory instrument, by the appropriate Minister after giving public notice of his intention to make an order and, in the case of a road in the London Traffic Area, after consultation with the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee.

(5) The appropriate Minister may give notice to the local authority, as respects any road falling within paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section which is a restricted road for the purposes of section nineteen of this Act, that he has under consideration the question whether—

(a) a direction should be given that it shall cease to be a restricted road for those purposes, or

(b) a direction for the time being in force that it shall be a restricted road for those purposes should be revoked or varied, or

(c) a direction should be given that the limit of speed applicable under the said section nineteen shall be the limit imposed by subsection (2) of that section;

and where such a notice has been given, then if within the time limited by the notice the local authority so require the appropriate Minister shall, and in any case he may, hold a local inquiry, and subject as aforesaid may by order, made by statutory instrument, give, or revoke or vary, the direction, as the case may be.

(6) A direction given by order under the foregoing provisions of this section may be revoked or varied by a subsequent order made in the like manner.

22 Signs for indicating speed restrictions

(1) It shall be the duty of the competent authority—

(a) to erect and maintain the prescribed traffic signs in such positions as may be requisite in order to give effect to general or other directions given by the appropriate Minister for the purpose of securing that adequate guidance is given to drivers of motor vehicles as to whether a road is or is not a restricted road for the purposes of section nineteen of this Act, and what limit of speed is to be observed where a road is a restricted road for those purposes; and

(b) to alter or remove traffic signs as may be requisite in order to give effect to such directions as aforesaid, either in consequence of the making of an order by the appropriate Minister or otherwise ;

and if the authority make default in executing any works required for the performance of the duty imposed upon them by this subsection, the appropriate Minister may himself execute them; and the expense incurred by him in so doing shall be recoverable by him from the authority and, in England or Wales, shall be so recoverable summarily as a civil debt.

(2) In its application to a trunk road the foregoing subsection shall have effect with the omission of the words " in order to give effect to general or other directions given by the appropriate Minister " in paragraph (a), and the words from the beginning of paragraph (b) to the end of the subsection.

(3) Where no system of street lighting furnished by means of lamps placed not more than two hundred yards apart is provided on a road but the road is a restricted road for the purposes of section nineteen of this Act, a person shall not be convicted of a contravention of that section unless the fact that it is a restricted road for those purposes is indicated by means of such traffic signs as are mentioned in subsection (1) of this section.

(4) In any proceedings for such a contravention as aforesaid, being proceedings relating to driving on a road provided with such a system of street lighting as is specified in the last foregoing subsection, evidence of the absence of traffic signs displayed in pursuance of this section to indicate that the road is not a restricted road for the purposes of section nineteen of this Act shall be evidence that the road is a restricted road for those purposes.

(5) In this section " the competent authority " means—

(a) as respects a road outside the London Traffic Area, not being a trunk road, the local authority ;

(b) as respects a road in the London Traffic Area, not being a trunk road, the Common Council of the City of London if the road is in the City, the council of a metropolitan borough if the road is elsewhere in the administrative county of London, and the local authority if the road is outside the administrative county of London;

(c) as respects a trunk road, the appropriate Minister.

23 Provisions supplementary to sections 19 to 22

(1) In the four last foregoing sections "local authority "—

(a) in relation to a road in England or Wales means—

(i) in the case of a road in a county borough or in a non-county borough having a population according to the last published census of over twenty thousand, the council of the borough;

(ii) in the case of a road in an urban district having such a population as aforesaid, the council of the district;

(iii) in the case of a road in a non-county borough not having such a population as aforesaid, in an urban district not having such a population, or in a rural district, the council of the county in which it is situated;

(b) in relation to a road in Scotland, means the county or town council responsible for the maintenance and management of the road;

and " road " means any length of road.

(2) A county council in Scotland shall, before arriving at a decision as to the exercise of any power conferred on them by the four last foregoing sections with regard to a classified road in a burgh, consult with the town council of the burgh.