Motor Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) General Order 1979
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 1979/1198 |
| Year | 1979 |
1979 No. 1198
ROAD TRAFFIC
The Motor Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) General Order 197913thSeptember 1979
1stNovember 1979
ARRANGEMENT OF THE ORDER
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Article
Commencement and citation … … … … … … … … … … 1
Revocation … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 2
Interpretation … … … … … … … … … … … … … 3
Speed Limits … … … … … … … … … … … … … 4
PART II
MISCELLANEOUS VEHICLES
Track laying vehicles (including those used for launching
lifeboats) … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 5
Naval, military, air force and aviation vehicles … … … … 6
Grass cutting machines and hedge trimmers … … … … … … 7,8 and 9
Pedestrian controlled road maintenance vehicles … … … … … 10
Vehicles used for experiments or trials … … … … … … … 11
Straddle carriers … … … … … … … … … … … … 12
Land tractors used for harvesting … … … … … … … … 13
Mechanically propelled hay and straw balers … … … … … … 14
Vehicles for moving excavated material … … … … … … … 15
Motor vehicles and trailers constructed for use outside the United
Kingdom or which are new or improved types constructed for tests
or trials or are equipped with new or improved equipment or types
of equipment … … … … … … … … … … … … … 16
Vehicles fitted with moveable platforms … … … … … … … 17
PART III
ABNORMAL INDIVISIBLE LOADS, ENGINEERING PLANT AND OTHER VEHICLES CARRYING WIDE LOADS
Vehicles for carrying or drawing abnormal indivisible loads … … 18
Engineering plant … … … … … … … … … … … … 19
Other vehicles carrying loads exceeding 4.3 metres in width … … 20
Speed limits for vehicles authorised by Article 18, 19 or 20 … 21
Attendants … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 22
Marking of projecting loads and fixed appliances or apparatus which
project … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 23
Approval of the Minister as to the time, date and route of a journey
by a vehicle or a vehicle and its load exceeding 4.3 metres in width 24
Notice to police… … … … … … … … … … … … … 25
Notice and indemnity to highway and bridge authorities … … … 26
Restriction on the passage over bridges of vehicles carrying
abnormal indivisible loads … … … … … … … … … … 27
Breakdown on bridges of vehicles of excessive weight or carrying
excessive loads … … … … … … … … … … … … … 28
SCHEDULES
Page
1. Service and Aviation Vehicles … … … … … … 30
2. Part I —Form of Notice to Police, Highway and Bridge
Authorities … … … … … … … … … … … 32
Part II—Form of Indemnity … … … … … … 33
3. Orders revoked by Article 2 … … … … … … 33
The Minister of Transport in exercise of the powers conferred by section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1972(a) and now vested in him(b) and of all other enabling powers, hereby makes the following Order:—
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Commencement and citation
1. This Order shall come into operation on 1st November 1979 and may be cited as the Motor Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) General Order 1979.
Revocation
2. The Orders specified in Schedule 3 are hereby revoked.
Interpretation
3.—(1) In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings—
"abnormal indivisible load" means a load—
(a) 1972 c. 20.
(b) S.I. 1979/571.
(a) which cannot without undue expense or risk of damage be divided into two or more loads for the purpose of carriage on roads, and
(b) which—
(i) owing to its dimensions, cannot be carried by a heavy motor car or trailer or a combination of a heavy motor car and trailer complying in all respects with the requirements of the Construction and Use Regulations, or
(ii) owing to its weight cannot be carried by a heavy motor car or trailer or a combination of a heavy motor car and trailer having a total laden weight of less than—
(A) during the period from 13th September 1979 to 12th September 1980, 24,390 kilograms, and
(B) on and after 13th September 1980, 32,520 kilograms, and complying in all respects with the requirements of the Construction and Use Regulations;
"articulated vehicle", "land locomotive", "land tractor", "locomotive", "overall length", "overall width", "overhang", "registered", "straddle carrier", "track laying", and "wheeled" have the same meanings respectively as in the Construction and Use Regulations;
"bank holiday" means a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971(a);
"chief officer of police" and "police area", in relation to England and Wales, have respectively the same meanings as in the Police Act 1964(b), and, in relation to Scotland, have respectively the same meanings as in the Police (Scotland) Act 1967(c) as amended by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973(d);
"controlled by a pedestrian" has the same meaning as in section 193(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1972;
"Construction and Use Regulations" means the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1978(e);
"day" means any day except a bank holiday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, Sunday or Saturday;
"engineering plant" means—
(a) moveable plant or equipment which consists of a motor vehicle or trailer specially designed and constructed for the special purposes of engineering operations, and which cannot, owing to the requirements of those purposes, comply in all respects with the requirements of the Construction and Use Regulations or the Track Laying Regulations and which is not constructed primarily to carry a load other than excavated material raised from the ground by apparatus on the motor vehicle or trailer or materials which the vehicle or trailer is specially designed to treat while carried thereon, or
(b) a mobile crane which does not comply in all respects with the requirements of the Construction and Use Regulations or the Track Laying Regulations;
(a) 1971 c. 80.
(b) 1964 c. 48.
(c) 1967 c. 77.
(d) 1973 c. 65.
(e) S.I. 1978/1017, as amended by S.I. 1978/1233, 1234, 1235, 1317 and 1979/138, 843, 1062.
"lateral projection", "forward projection" and "rearward projection" have the same meanings respectively as in Regulation 139 of the Construction and Use Regulations and references in this Order to a special appliance or apparatus in relation to a vehicle, to a forward projection or a rearward projection in relation to a vehicle, to the distance between vehicles in relation to vehicles carrying a load, and to a combination of vehicles in relation to a motor vehicle which is drawing one or more trailers, shall be construed respectively in the same manner as is provided in the said Regulation 139 for the purposes of Regulation 140 of the said Regulations, and the provisions of sub-paragraphs (b), (e), (h), (i) and (j) of the said Regulation 139 shall apply for the purposes of this Order as they apply for the purposes of the said Regulations 139 and 140;
"special road" means a special road which is open for use as a special road;
"the Minister" means the Minister of Transport;
"Track Laying Regulations" means the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Track Laying Vehicles) Regulations 1955(a); and
"tractor" means a motor tractor.
(2) Any reference in this Order to a numbered Article or Schedule is a reference to the Article or Schedule bearing that number in this Order except where otherwise expressly provided.
Speed limits
4. Nothing in this Order relating to the speed of vehicles shall be taken to authorise any speed which is in excess of any other speed limit imposed by or under any enactment.
PART II
MISCELLANEOUS VEHICLES
Track laying vehicles (including those used for launching lifeboats)
5. The Minister authorises the use on roads of track laying motor vehicles and track laying trailers notwithstanding that such vehicles do not comply in all respects with the requirements of the Construction and Use Regulations or the Track Laying Regulations subject to the following conditions:—
(1) (a) the vehicle shall be used only for the purpose of
(i) demonstration, or
(ii) enabling it to proceed to the nearest suitable railway station for conveyance to a port for shipment or to proceed to a port for shipment from a place in the immediate vicinity of that port where suitable railway facilities are not available,
(b) before the vehicle is so used the consent of every highway authority or every person responsible for the maintenance and repair of any road on which it is proposed that the vehicle shall be used shall in each case be obtained in writing, and
(c) the vehicle shall not be used for the carriage of goods or burden for hire or reward; or
(a) S.I. 1955/990.
(2) the vehicle shall be used only for drawing or in connection with the launching of lifeboats which are the property of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Naval, military, air force and aviation vehicles
6. The Minister authorises the use on roads of the vehicles specified in Column 1 of Schedule 1 notwithstanding that such vehicles do not comply in all respects with the requirements of the Regulations of the Construction and Use Regulations or the Track Laying Regulations respectively specified opposite thereto in Column 2 of Schedule 1, subject to the vehicles being the property of, or for the time being under the control of, the persons respectively specified opposite thereto in Column 3 of Schedule 1.
Grass cutting machines and hedge trimmers
7. The Minister authorises the use on roads of motor tractors constructed or adapted for use as grass cutters or hedge trimmers (not, in either case, being vehicles controlled by a pedestrian) notwithstanding that such vehicles do not comply with Regulation 53 of the Construction and Use Regulations subject to the following conditions:—
(a) all other relevant requirements of the Construction and Use Regulations shall be complied with;
(b) the overall width of the vehicle, except when it is actually cutting grass or trimming hedges, shall not exceed 2·5 metres; and
(c) except when the vehicle is actually engaged in such operations, all cutting or trimming blades which form part of the machinery fitted to the vehicle shall be effectively guarded so that no danger is caused or is likely to...
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