Road Transport Lighting Act 1957
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1957 c. 51 |
| Year | 1957 |
Road Transport Lighting Act , 1957
(5 & 6 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 51
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to the lighting of vehicles on roads.
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:—
1 Lights and reflectors to be carried by vehicles at night.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and of any regulations made thereunder by the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation (in this Act referred to as ‘the Minister’), every vehicle on any road shall during the hours of darkness carry—
(a ) two lamps, each showing to the front a white light visible from a reasonable distance; and
(b ) two lamps, each showing to the rear a red light visible from a reasonable distance,
and, while a vehicle is on any road during the hours of darkness, every lamp carried by the vehicle in accordance with this subsection shall be kept properly trimmed, lighted, and in a clean and efficient condition, and shall be attached to the vehicle in such position and manner as the Minister may by regulations prescribe.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every vehicle on any road shall during the hours of darkness carry attached to it two unobscured and efficient red reflectors each facing to the rear.
(3) It shall be the duty of any person who causes or permits a vehicle to be on any road during the hours of darkness to provide the vehicle with lamps in accordance with the requirements of this Act and of any regulations made thereunder, and with reflectors in accordance with the provisions of the foregoing subsection and any regulations made for the purposes thereof under this Act.
2 Restriction on the nature of lamps to be carried.
(1) No vehicle shall, subject to the provisions of section eleven of this Act, show—
(a ) a red light to the front, or
(b ) any light to the rear, other than a red light or a white light for the purpose of reversing.
(2) Paragraph (b ) of the foregoing subsection shall not prevent a vehicle from carrying a lamp showing a light to the rear for the purposes of—
(a ) the internal illumination of the vehicle,
(b ) illuminating a number plate, taxi meter, or any device for giving signals to overtaking traffic, or
(c ) in the case of a public passenger vehicle, illuminating boards, plates or devices indicating the route or destination of the vehicle.
3 Restriction on movement of lamps.
3. Unless otherwise provided by the Minister by regulation, no light shown by a vehicle, other than a dipping headlight, shall be moved by swivelling, deflecting or otherwise while the vehicle is in motion.
4 Multi-purpose lamps and combined lamps and reflectors.
(1) Nothing in this Act shall, subject to the provisions of section eleven thereof, require a vehicle to carry separate lamps for different purposes, if it carries a lamp satisfying all the requirements which would be applicable to separate lamps carried by it for those purposes.
(2) Where a vehicle's tail lamp is so constructed that, when not showing a light, it is an efficient red reflector facing to the rear and complying with any regulations made for the purposes of subsection (2) of section one of this Act and for the purposes of this subsection which apply to the vehicle, it shall be treated for those purposes as being such a reflector when it is, as well as when it is not, showing a light.
5 Regulations as to position and use of lamps and reflectors.
(1) The Minister may by regulations prescribe the conditions subject to which—
(a ) any lamp carried by a vehicle and showing a light to the front, and
(b ) any lamp carried by a vehicle and showing a white light to the rear for the purpose of reversing,
may be used, and those conditions may include conditions as to all or any of the following matters, that is to say—
(i) the angles at which beams of light may be projected,
(ii) the height, width and range of illumination of those beams of light,
(iii) the extent and method of obscuration to be applied, and
(iv) the position on the vehicle of any lamps not being lamps carried in accordance with section one of this Act,
and regulations made under this subsection may provide for the method by which the height, width and range of illumination of beams of light referred to in paragraph (ii) thereof are to be ascertained.
(2) The Minister may by regulations prescribe—
(a ) the conditions to be complied with by any lamp carried in accordance with the provisions of this Act or of any regulations made thereunder and showing a red light to the rear, and
(b ) the conditions to be complied with by any reflector carried in accordance with the provisions of this Act or of any regulations made thereunder, and the position and manner in which it is to be attached,
and any regulations made under this subsection may make different provision in respect of vehicles of different classes or descriptions, or in respect of vehicles of the same class or description in different circumstances.
(3) Regulations made under subsection (1) of section one of this Act may make special provision, as respects any class or description of vehicle, as to the position in which a lamp carried for the purposes both of paragraph (a ) and of paragraph (b ) of that subsection is to be attached; and in a case for which special provision is so made the reference in subsection (1) of section four of this Act to the requirements which would be applicable lations as to the position of a separate lamp carried for the to separate lamps shall not include the requirements of any regupurposes of the said paragraph (a ) or (b ).
6 Bicycles, tricycles and invalid carriages.
6. In the application of the foregoing provisions of this Act to bicycles, tricycles and invalid carriages the following modifications shall apply:—
(i) only a single lamp showing a red light to the rear instead of two such lamps, and
(ii) only a single red reflector instead of two such reflectors,
need be carried;
Provided that the provisions of paragraph (d ) of this section shall have effect only until such day as the Minister may by order appoint.
7 Horse-drawn agricultural vehicles.
7. In the application of the foregoing provisions of this Act to vehicles drawn by horses or other animals the following modifications shall apply:—
(i) only one lamp showing a light to the front need be carried, and that lamp shall be attached to the off or right hand side of the vehicle; and
(ii) subject to the provisions of the next following section, a lamp showing a red light to the rear need not be carried.
8 Vehicles carrying overhanging or projecting loads.
(1) Without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this Act, where a vehicle on a road during the hours of darkness carries a load overhanging laterally on any side more than twelve inches from the centre of the outermost of the lamps showing a white light to the front on that side, the vehicle shall carry, in substitution for or in addition to that lamp, a lamp showing to the front a white light visible from a reasonable distance and in such a position that no part of the load overhangs laterally more than twelve inches beyond a vertical line through the centre of the substituted or additional lamp.
(2) Where a vehicle on a road during the hours of darkness carries a load projecting to the rear more than three and a half feet behind its tail lamp, the vehicle shall carry a rear lamp in such a position that no part of the load projects to the rear more than three and a half feet behind that rear lamp;
Provided that the Minister may by regulations direct that in relation to vehicles of any prescribed class or...
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