Review: Wilkinson's Road Traffic Offences, 23rd Edition
| Published date | 01 March 2008 |
| Date | 01 March 2008 |
| Author | Rob Jerrard |
| DOI | 10.1350/pojo.2008.81.1.421 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
WILKINSON’S ROAD TRAFFIC OFFENCES,
23RD EDITION
General Editor, Peter Wallis
Sweet & Maxwell, 2007
ISBN: 9781847030832; price: £299
Reviewed by Rob Jerrard
With vehicles on our roads now approaching 30 million, addi-
tional mileage increasingly being driven by the population and
diminishing police resources being allocated to road policing, the
need for knowledge of the law becomes of increasing importance
to everyone. The need for a comprehensive textbook on the
subject thus becomes a necessity for all those seeking that
knowledge. Wilkinson’s Road Traffic Offences is such a textbook
and old friend, the first edition being published in 1953.
As we have said previously at ‘Internet Law Book Reviews’,
Wilkinson is, however, no ordinary textbook. Like so many
major works these days it is a work in two volumes, with the first
volume presented in a very readable form to be easily under-
stood. It is, perhaps, the book that many look to in the first
instance when confronted with an unusual matter connected with
a vehicle.
Definitions are very important. I am sure we can all recall
how particular vehicles have been manufactured to bring them
within a ‘definition’, e.g. ‘a three wheeler car not exceeding
410kg’ comes within the definition of motor cycle and your
reviewer himself borrowed a Robin Reliant in 1967 and drove it
on a motor cycle licence to practise gear changes. I recall, prior
to this, such a vehicle was not permitted a reverse gear.
The second volume is not for the general public, but sets out
for the practitioner, first the Statutes, and secondly, the Statutory
Instruments that we all have to obey once outside the curtilage of
our homes. They represent a formidable array that looks to be
added to during the lifetime of any edition.
The whole work has made a valuable contribution to the road
traffic law of this country. It would be impossible, in the space
available, for the reviewer to cover the whole of this work and
clearly some matters are of more importance than others, for a
variety of reasons. It is therefore my intention to comment on
some aspects.
Described as the principal culprit in this edition is the Road
Safety Act 2006, which received Royal Assent on 8 November
2006. It is an Act containing no less than 63 sections and seven
Schedules. Most of its bulk owes its conception and lengthy
90 The Police Journal, Volume 81 (2008)
DOI: 10.1358/pojo.2008.81.1.421
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