Road traffic act, 1994

• Act Number: 7
• Enactment Date: 20 April 1994

Number 7 of 1994
ROAD TRAFFIC ACT, 1994
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART I
Preliminary and General
Section 1. Short title, commencement, construction and collective citation. 2. Interpretation. 3. Regulations. 4. Repeals.
PART II
The Bureau
5. Definitions for Part V of Act of 1968. 6. Functions and duties of Bureau. 7. Functions of Director. 8. Protection of Director, etc., against legal proceedings.
PART III
Driving Offences
9. Interpretation of Part III. 10. Prohibition on driving vehicle while under influence of intoxicant. 11. Prohibition on being in charge of vehicle while under influence of intoxicant. 12. Obligation to provide preliminary breath specimen. 13. Obligation to provide specimen following arrest. 14. Obligation to accompany member to Garda Síochána station, not under arrest, to provide blood or urine specimen. 15. Obligation to provide blood or urine specimen while in hospital. 16. Detention of intoxicated drivers where a danger to selves or others. 17. Procedure following provision of breath specimen under section 13. 18. Procedure regarding taking of specimens of blood and provision of specimens of urine. 19. Procedure at Bureau regarding specimens. 20. Provisions regarding certain evidence in prosecutions under sections 49 and 50 of Principal Act. 21. Provisions regarding certain evidence in proceedings under Road Traffic Acts, 1961 to 1994. 22. Costs of prosecutions under sections 49 and 50 of Principal Act and Part III. 23. Defence to refusal to permit taking of specimen of blood or to provide 2 specimens of breath. 24. Bar to certain defence to charges under sections 49 and 50 of Principal Act.
PART IV
Driving Licences
25. Requirement to carry driving licence while driving vehicle. 26. Consequential disqualification orders. 27. Amendment of provisions relating to removal of consequential disqualification orders. 28. Provision of particulars of disqualifications to certain persons. 29. Application of provisions of Principal Act to provisional licences.
PART V
Speed Limits
30. Amendment of section 44A of Principal Act. 31. Motorway speed limit. 32. Amendment of section 45 of Principal Act. 33. Special speed limits. 34. Amendment of section 47 of Principal Act.
PART VI
Regulation of Traffic
35. Regulations for general control of traffic and pedestrians. 36. Parking of vehicles in parking places on public roads. 37. Amendment of section 95 of Principal Act. 38. Traffic calming measures.
PART VII
Miscellaneous
39. Powers of entry. 40. Amendment of Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Order, 1958. 41. Detention of vehicles. 42. Power of road authority to provide and maintain certain equipment, etc. on public roads. 43. Amendment of section 103 of Principal Act. 44. Amendment of section 105 of Principal Act. 45. Amendment of section 106 of Principal Act. 46. Amendment of section 107 of Principal Act. 47. Amendment of section 9 of Principal Act. 48. Summary proceedings. 49. Minor and consequential amendments.
Number 7 of 1994
ROAD TRAFFIC ACT, 1994
AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE ROAD TRAFFIC ACTS, 1961 TO 1987. [20th April, 1994]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
PART I Preliminary and General
	Short title, commencement, construction and collective citation.	1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Road Traffic Act, 1994.
	(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as, by order or orders made by the Minister under this section, may be fixed therefor either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions, including the application of section 4 to different Acts specified therein and to different provisions of those Acts.
	(3) The Principal Act, the Act of 1968, the Act of 1984 and the Act of 1987 (in so far as it amends those Acts), shall be construed as one with this Act and may be cited together therewith as the Road Traffic Acts, 1961 to 1994.
	Interpretation.	2.—(1) In this Act, save where the context otherwise requires—
	“the Act of 1968” means the Road Traffic Act, 1968 ;
	“the Act of 1978” means the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 1978 ;
	“the Act of 1984” means the Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 1984 ;
	“the Act of 1987” means the Dublin Transport Authority (Dissolution) Act, 1987 ;
	“the Act of 1993” means the Roads Act, 1993 ;
	“licensing authority” means the council of a county or the corporation of a county borough;
	“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;
	“the Principal Act” means the Road Traffic Act, 1961 ;
	“reserved function” means—
	(a) in the case of the council of a county or an elective body for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 to 1991, a reserved function for the purposes of those Acts, and
	(b) in the case of the corporation of a county borough, a reserved function for the purposes of the Acts relating to the management of the county borough.
	(2) In this Act—
	(a) a reference to a Part, section or Schedule is to a Part, section or Schedule of this Act, unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended,
	(b) a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is to the subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended, and
	(c) a reference to any enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by or under any subsequent enactment including this Act.
	Regulations.	3.—(1) The Minister may make regulations for the purpose of giving full effect to this Act and such regulations may contain such incidental, supplementary, consequential and transitional provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulations.
	(2) Regulations made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after they are made and, if a resolution annulling the regulations is passed by either such House within the next subsequent 21 days on which that House has sat after the regulations are laid before it, the regulations shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.
	Repeals.	4.—(1) Sections 89, 90, 101 (8), 101A (inserted by the Act of 1987) and 115 (7) of the Principal Act, section 60 of the Act of 1968 and the Act of 1978 are hereby repealed.
	(2) Regulations, bye-laws and temporary rules made under a provision or enactment referred to in subsection (1) and in force immediately before the commencement of this section shall continue in force and be deemed to be regulations or, as the case may be, bye-laws made under the corresponding provision of this Act, and they shall be capable of being amended or revoked accordingly, and documents issued under or in accordance with any regulations, bye-laws or temporary rules as aforesaid and in force immediately before such commencement shall continue in force for the purposes of this Act.
PART II The Bureau
	Definitions for Part V of Act of 1968.	5.—The following is substituted for section 27 of the Act of 1968:
	“27.—In this Part—
	‘analysis’ includes any operation used in determining the concentration of alcohol in a specimen of breath, blood or urine, and any operation used in determining the presence (if any) of a drug or drugs in a specimen of blood or urine, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;
	‘Bureau’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 37 (1);
	‘Director’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 39 (1);
	‘establishment order’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 37 (1).”.
	Functions and duties of Bureau.	6.—Section 38 of the Act of 1968 is hereby amended—
	(a) by the substitution of the following subsections for subsections (1) and (2):
	“(1) The Bureau shall perform the functions assigned to it by or under this Act or the Road Traffic Act, 1994.
	(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Bureau shall, subject to the establishment order and to any regulations under Part III of the Road Traffic Act, 1994, arrange for—
	(a) the receipt and analysis of specimens of blood and urine forwarded to the Bureau under Part III of the Road Traffic Act, 1994, and the issue of reports on such analyses,
	(b) the determination, in respect of such specimens, of the concentration of alcohol in the blood or urine and of the presence (if any) of a drug or drugs in the blood or urine,
	(c) the issue of certificates required under Part III of the Road Traffic Act, 1994, to be issued by the Bureau,
	(d) the provision of equipment for the taking of such specimens,
	(e) the approval of—
	(i) apparatus for indicating the presence of alcohol, and
	(ii) apparatus for determining the concentration of alcohol,
	in the breath.”, and
	(b) in subsection (4), by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):
	“(a) arrange for the supply and testing of—
	(i) apparatus for indicating the presence of alcohol, and
	(ii) apparatus for determining the concentration of alcohol,
	in the breath,”.
	Functions of Director.	7.—The following is substituted for section 39 (2) of...