Committee Reports > List of Committees > Seanad > 1966 > Select Committee on Statutory Instruments > Report No. 02 - Statutory Instruments

APPENDIX IV.

Road Traffic General Bye-Laws, 1964 [S.I. No. 294 of 1964].

An Coimisinéir,

An Garda Síochána.

The Select Committee on Statutory Instruments has under consideration the Road Traffic General Bye-Laws, 1964 [S.I. No. 294 of 1964] and has directed me to ask you to furnish an explanatory memorandum of the following points with a view to assisting it in its deliberations.

By virtue of Article 4 (2) of the Bye-Laws a special traffic regulation includes “a temporary rule made (or deemed to have been made)” under stated sections of the parent statute. It is not clear to the Committee in what circumstances a temporary rule may be “deemed to have been made.”

Article 22 (6) obliges a driver approaching a road junction by a road which is not a major road to yield the right of way to traffic on a major road “in respect of which there is not an authorised traffic sign.” For this purpose a major road, by virtue of Article 2 (1) includes “a road forming part of a road junction and which, because of the volume of traffic it normally carries, is the principal road of those intersecting or meeting at the junction.” The Committee wishes to learn if in cases where this definition is relied upon there is any criterion of “normal traffic” which makes a road a main road.

With regard to Article 21 the Committee desires to enquire if there are any rules regulating the right of way between traffic entering and traffic proceeding on a roundabout.

Finally the Committee would welcome comment on whether the phrase, “right hand side of the roadway”, would not express the purport of Article 32 better than the phrase used, viz. “right side of the roadway,” particularly in view of the use of the phrase, “left hand side of the roadway” in Article 17.

Cléireach an Roghchoiste.

9 Meán Fómhair, 1965.

11 October, 1965.

Cléireach an Roghchoiste,

Seanad Éireann.

I am directed by the Commissioner to refer to your letter of 9th September, 1965, regarding certain points arising out of consideration by the Select Committee of the Road Traffic General Bye-Laws, 1964, (S.I. No. 294 of 1964) and to enclose an explanatory memorandum which represents the view of the Officers of the Attorney General’s Department.

Assistant Commissioner.

Memorandum

Paragraph 2. The circumstances under which a temporary rule may be deemed to have been made are those in which a corresponding rule had been made under the Road Traffic Act, 1933, this rule (under Section 10 (2) of the Act of 1961) being regarded (i.e. deemed) as having been made under the corresponding provision of the Act of 1961.

Paragraph 3. The criterion is one of fact to be decided by the Court on the evidence in each individual case. This provision in the bye-laws preserves the effect of the decision of the President of the High Court in Lyons v. Cronin dated 10th October, 1961 (unreported) and has the benefit of leaving it open to a Court to find that e.g. the main Dublin/Cork road is the major road at its junction with some small boreen on which a sign did not exist because one had not been erected or had been removed for any reason.

Paragraph 4. A roundabout is a road junction (see Article 2 (1) of Road Traffic (Signs) Regulations, 1962 (S.I. No. 171 of 1962)) and accordingly the appropriate provisions of Article 22 apply thereto—in particular Article 22 subarticles (2), (7) and (8). Article 21 was considered necessary because sign No. 115 belongs to the category of Warning Signs rather than to that of Regulatory Signs.

Paragraph 5. The descriptions “right side” and “left side” are used throughout the bye-laws and it is suggested that their meanings are sufficiently clear and that the use of “left-hand side” on one occasion will not create any confusion.