Road Safety Act 1967
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1967 c. 30 |
| Year | 1967 |
Road Safety Act 1967
1967 CHAPTER 30
An Act to make further provision with respect to persons driving or being in charge of motor vehicles after consuming alcohol or taking drugs and with respect to goods vehicles and to empower constables to arrest persons suspected of driving or attempting to drive while disqualified.
[10th May 1967]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
alcohol in the bloodDriving, etc., with an undue proportion of
1 Driving or being in charge with blood-alcohol concentration above the prescribed limit.
(1) If a person drives or attempts to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, having consumed alcohol in such a quantity that the proportion thereof in his blood, as ascertained from a laboratory test for which he subsequently provides a specimen under section 3 of this Act, exceeds the prescribed limit at the time he provides the specimen, he shall be liable—
(a ) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding 100 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding four months or both or, in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding 100 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both;
(b ) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.
(2) Without prejudice to the foregoing subsection, if a person is in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place having consumed alcohol as aforesaid, he shall be liable—
(a ) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding 100 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding four months or both;
(b ) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months or both.
(3) A person shall not be convicted under this section of being in charge of a motor vehicle if he proves that at the material time the circumstances were such that there was no likelihood of his driving it so long as there was any probability of his having alcohol in his blood in a proportion exceeding the prescribed limit.
(4) In determining for the purposes of the last foregoing subsection the likelihood of a person's driving a motor vehicle when he is injured or the vehicle is damaged, the jury, in the case of proceedings on indictment, may be directed to disregard, and the court in any other case may disregard, the fact that he had been injured or that the vehicle had been damaged.
(5) Section 6(2)(ii) of the principal Act (which includes as an ingredient of a defence on a prosecution of being in charge of a motor vehicle the need to prove that the accused had not driven the vehicle between becoming impaired and the material time) shall cease to have effect.
2 Breath tests.
(1) A constable in uniform may require any person driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test there or nearby, if the constable has reasonable cause—
(a ) to suspect him of having alcohol in his body; or
(b ) to suspect him of having committed a traffic offence while the vehicle was in motion:
Provided that no requirement may be made by virtue of paragraph (b ) of this subsection unless it is made as soon as reasonably practicable after the commission of the traffic offence.
(2) If an accident occurs owing to the presence of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, a constable in uniform may require any person who he has reasonable cause to believe was driving or attempting to drive the vehicle at the time of the accident to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test—
(a ) except while that person is at a hospital as a patient, either at or near the place where the requirement is made or, if the constable thinks fit, at a police station specified by the constable;
(b ) in the said excepted case, at the hospital;
but a person shall not be required to provide such a specimen while at a hospital as a patient if the medical practitioner in immediate charge of his case is not first notified of the proposal to make the requirement or objects to the provision of a specimen on the ground that its provision or the requirement to provide it would be prejudicial to the proper care or treatment of the patient.
(3) A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test under either of the two foregoing subsections shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 50.
(4) If it appears to a constable in consequence of a breath test carried out by him on any person under subsection (1) or (2) of this section that the device by means of which the test is carried out indicates that the proportion of alcohol in that person's blood exceeds the prescribed limit, the constable may arrest that person without warrant except while that person is at a hospital as a patient.
(5) If a person required by a constable under subsection (1) or (2) of this section to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test fails to do so and the constable has reasonable cause to suspect him of having alcohol in his body, the constable may arrest him without warrant except while he is at a hospital as a patient.
(6) The two last foregoing subsections shall not be construed as prejudicing the provisions of section 6(4) of the principal Act (arrest of persons driving or being in charge when their ability to drive properly is impaired through drink or drugs).
(7) A person arrested under this section or under the said section 6(4) shall, while at a police station, be given an opportunity to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test there.
(8) In this section ‘traffic offence’ means an offence under any provision of the Road Traffic Acts 1960 to 1967 or of the Road Transport Lighting Act 1957 .
3 Laboratory tests.
(1) A person who has been arrested under the last foregoing section or section 6(4) of the principal Act may, while at a police station, be required by a constable to provide a specimen for a laboratory test (which may be a specimen of blood or of urine), if he has previously been given an opportunity to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test at that station under subsection (7) of the last foregoing section, and either—
(a ) it appears to a constable in consequence of the breath test that the device by means of which the test is carried out indicates that the proportion of alcohol in his blood exceeds the prescribed limit; or
(b ) when given the opportunity to provide that specimen, he fails to do so.
(2) A person while at a hospital as a patient may be required by a constable to provide at the hospital a specimen for a laboratory test—
(a ) if it appears to a constable in consequence of a breath test carried out on that person under section 2(2) of this Act that the device by means of which the test is carried out indicates that the proportion of alcohol in his blood exceeds the prescribed limit; or
(b ) if that person has been required, whether at the hospital or elsewhere, to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test, but fails to do so and a constable has reasonable cause to suspect him of having alcohol in his body;
but a person shall not be required to provide a specimen for a laboratory test under this subsection if the medical practitioner in immediate charge of his case is not first notified of the proposal to make the requirement or objects to the provision of a specimen on the ground that its provision, the requirement to provide it or a warning under subsection (10) of this section would be prejudicial to the proper care or treatment of the patient.
(3) A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to provide a specimen for a laboratory test in pursuance of a requirement imposed under this section shall be guilty of an offence, and—
(a ) if it is shown that at the relevant time he was driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, he shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if the offence charged were an offence under section 1(1) of this Act; and
(b ) in any other case, if it is shown that at that time he was in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, he shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if the offence charged were an offence under section 1(2) of this Act.
(4) In the last foregoing subsection ‘the relevant time’ means—
(a ) in relation to a person required under section 2(1) of this Act to provide a specimen of breath for a breath test, the time when he was so required;
(b ) in relation to a person required under section 2(2) of this Act to provide such a specimen, the time of the accident;
(c ) in relation to a person arrested under section 6(4) of the principal Act, the time of his arrest.
(5) So much of section 2(1) of the 1962 Act (evidence on charge of unfitness to drive) as relates to the provision of a specimen of breath shall cease to have effect, but save as aforesaid nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall affect the provisions of the said section 2(1).
(6) A person shall not be treated for the purposes of section 2(1) of the 1962 Act or subsection (3) of this section as failing to provide a specimen unless—
(a ) he is first requested to provide a specimen of blood, but refuses to do so;
(b ) he is then requested to provide two specimens of urine within one hour of the request, but fails to provide them within the hour or refuses at any time within the hour to provide...
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