Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Year: 1963
• Citation: IR SI 190/1963

S.I. No. 190 of 1963.
ROAD TRAFFIC (CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND USE OF VEHICLES) REGULATIONS, 1963.
PART I.
PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL.
Article
1. Citation.
2. Commencement.
3. Interpretation.
4. Revocations.
PART II.
LADEN WEIGHT, DIMENSIONS AND GENERAL CONSTRUCTION OF MECHANICALLY PROPELLED VEHICLES AND TRAILERS.
5. Interpretation.
6. Compliance with this Part, owner liability.
7. Maximum weights.
8. Marking of weight.
9. Distribution of weight.
10. Width.
11. Length.
12. Trailers.
13. Rear overhang.
14. Springs.
15. Wheels and tracks.
16. Tyres.
17. Special permits in relation to this Part.
PART III.
EQUIPMENT (OTHER THAN BRAKES) OF MECHANICALLY PROPELLED VEHICLES AND TRAILERS.
18. Definition.
19. Compliance with this Part.
20. Steering.
21. Reversing gear.
22. Wings.
23. View of road.
24. Safety glass.
25. Windscreen wiper.
26. Driving mirrors.
27. Speedometer.
28. Audible warning device.
29. Silencer.
30. Emission of smoke, etc.
31. Means to prevent unauthorised driving.
32. Inessential projections.
33. Closets, etc.
34. Condition and maintenance.
35. Loudspeakers.
36. Good defence.
37. Owner liability.
PART IV.
BRAKES ON MECHANICALLY PROPELLED VEHICLES AND TRAILERS.
38. Definitions.
39. Combination of brakes.
40. Obligatory brakes on mechanically propelled vehicles.
41. Obligatory brakes on trailers.
42. Obligatory brakes on combinations of vehicles.
43. Service brake.
44. Parking brake.
45. Miscellaneous requirements.
46. Performance of brakes.
47. Good defence.
48. Owner liability.
PART V.
ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO SMALL PUBLIC SERVICE VEHICLES.
49. Equipment to be carried.
50. Limitation on number of passengers.
51. Provisions applicable to public hire vehicles.
52. Saver for certain vehicles.
PART VI.
ADDITIONAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO LARGE PUBLIC SERVICE VEHICLES.
Article
53. Definitions.
54. Compliance with this Part.
55. Height.
56. Stability.
57. Suspension.
58. Turning circle.
59. Side overhang.
60. Clearance.
61. Guard rails.
62. Steering.
63. Hub projection.
64. Fuel tanks, etc.
65. Exhaust pipes.
66. Electrical apparatus.
67. General construction and equipment.
68. Steps, platforms and stairs.
69. Number and situation of exits and entrances.
70. Dimensions of entrances and exits.
71. Doors.
72. Emergency exits.
73. Access to exits.
74. Dimensions of gangways.
75. Seats.
76. Driver's accommodation.
77. Markings.
78. Maintenance.
79. Carriage of certain equipment.
80. Number of passengers.
81. Obstruction.
82. Saver for certain vehicles.
83. Owner liability.
PART VII.
DUTIES OF DRIVERS AND OTHERS IN RELATION TO MECHANICALLY PROPELLED VEHICLES AND TRAILERS.
84. Definition.
85. Prevention of noise.
86. Use of audible warning device.
87. Stationary vehicles.
88. Races.
89. Use of closets.
90. Emission of fumes.
91. Passengers on motor cycles.
92. General duties of drivers and others.
PART VIII.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.
93. Pedal cycles.
94. Pedestrian-controlled vehicles.
95. Track-laying vehicles.
96. General provisions.
97. Experimental vehicles.
SCHEDULES.
FIRST SCHEDULE—Revocations.
SECOND SCHEDULE—Standards of Performance for Braking Devices.
S.I. No. 190 of 1963.
ROAD TRAFFIC (CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND USE OF VEHICLES) REGULATIONS, 1963.
The Minister for Local Government in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 5 , 11 , 12 and 13 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 (No. 24 of 1961) hereby makes the following Regulations:—
PART I. PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL.
	1 Citation.	1. These Regulations may be cited as the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963.
	2 Commencement.	2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 27th day of October, 1963.
	3 Interpretation.	3. (1) In these Regulations, save where the context otherwise requires:—
"the Act" means the Road Traffic Act, 1961 ;
"agricultural trailer" means a trailer, the property of a person engaged in agriculture, which is designed and used primarily for work on the land and which is used on a public road only incidentally to such work;
"articulated vehicle" means the combination of a mechanically propelled vehicle (other than a bicycle) and a drawn vehicle attached by partial superimposition and so constructed and attached that not less than 20 per cent. of the weight of the drawn vehicle is borne by the mechanically propelled vehicle;
"drawbar" means any drawbar, chain or other towing device and includes any special fitting for the attachment of such drawbar, chain or towing device;
"goods trailer" means a trailer constructed or adapted primarily for the conveyance of goods or burden of any description;
"goods vehicle" means a mechanically propelled vehicle constructed or adapted primarily for the conveyance of goods or burden of any description;
"indivisible load" means a load or article which cannot, without undue expense or risk of damage, be divided into two or more parts for conveyance by road;
"invalid carriage" means a mechanically propelled vehicle the weight unladen of which does not exceed 6 cwt. and which is specially designed and constructed for the use of persons suffering from a physical defect or disability and which is used solely by such persons;
"land implement" means a trailer which consists of any implement or machinery used with a land tractor in connection with agriculture, forestry, land levelling, dredging or similar operations, and includes any trailer which carries only the necessary gear and equipment of the land tractor which draws it;
"land tractor" means a tractor designed and used primarily for work on the land in connection with agriculture, forestry, land levelling, dredging and similar operations, and—
(a) which is driven on a road only when proceeding to and from the site of such work and which when so driven hauls nothing except an agricultural trailer, a land implement, a land trailer or a trailer specially designed and constructed and used only for the conveyance of any implement or machinery used with the tractor in connection with its work on the land, or
(b) which is used on a road while it hauls nothing except an agricultural trailer;
"land trailer" means a trailer used for work on the land and used on a road only when proceeding to or from the site of such work;
"large tractor" means a tractor the weight unladen of which exceeds 7¼ tons;
"mechanically propelled cycle" means a mechanically propelled vehicle which has less than four wheels and the weight unladen of which does not exceed 8 cwt.;
"passenger accommodation" means seating passenger accommodation determined in accordance with the provisions of the Road Traffic (Passenger Accommodation of Mechanically Propelled Vehicles) Regulations, 1962 ( S.I. No. 143 of 1962 );
"passenger vehicle" means a mechanically propelled vehicle (other than a cycle) constructed primarily for the carriage of passengers;
"pedestrian-controlled vehicle" means a mechanically propelled vehicle, not exceeding 8 cwt. in weight unladen, which is controlled by a pedestrian and which is not constructed or adapted to carry a driver or a passenger;
"pneumatic tyre" means a tyre which—
(a) is provided with, or together with the wheel on which it is mounted forms, a continuous closed chamber inflated with air to a pressure substantially exceeding atmospheric pressure when the tyre is in the condition in which it is normally used but is not subject to any load,
(b) is capable of being inflated and deflated without removal from the wheel or vehicle, and
(c) is such that, when it is deflated and is subjected to a normal load, the sides of the tyre collapse;
"registered" means registered under section 2 of the Motor Car Act, 1903, or under section 6 of the Roads Act, 1920;
"semi-trailer" means the drawn component of an articulated vehicle, or a vehicle constructed or adapted for use as such drawn component;
"soft tyre" means a tyre (other than a pneumatic tyre) of soft or elastic material, which material is either—
(a) continuous round the circumference of the wheel, or
(b) in segments so fitted that, so far as is reasonably practicable, no space is left between the ends thereof,
and is of such thickness as to minimise, so far as is reasonably practicable, vibration when the vehicle is in motion, and is so constructed as to be free from any defect which might in any way cause damage to the surface of a road;
"station wagon" includes station wagons, estate cars and other similar vehicles which are constructed or adapted for alternative purposes (including the carriage of one or more passengers) and which are fitted with seats, whether rigid, collapsible or detachable, in the area to the rear of the driver's seat;
"track-laying" in relation to a vehicle means that the vehicle is so constructed that its entire weight is not transmitted to the road surface by circular wheels;
"tractor" means a mechanically propelled vehicle (other than a cycle) which is not constructed itself to carry any load except the following:—
(a) water, fuel, accumulators and other equipment used for the purposes of propulsion,
(b) loose tools and loose equipment,
(c) in the case of a vehicle fitted with a crane, dynamo, welding plant or other special appliance or apparatus which is a permanent fixture, such appliance or apparatus, and
(d) in the case of a land tractor, a detachable platform, container or implement (being a platform, container or implement used primarily for farm work) together with the load on or in such platform, container or implement;
"trailer" means a vehicle attached to a mechanically propelled...