Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland
1997 No. 518

ROAD TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES
Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

Made
1st December 1997

Coming into operation
12th January 1998

The Department of the Environment, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Articles 55(1), (2) and (6) and 110(2) of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995(1) and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 and shall come into operation on 12th January 1998.

(2) In these Regulations “the principal Regulations” means the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989(2).

Amendment of regulation 35 (audible warning instruments)

2.  In regulation 35(5) of the principal Regulations, after paragraph (h) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(i)used as a cardiac response vehicle, being a vehicle used only for the purposes of transporting medical or nursing personnel and equipment to cardiac incidents.”.

Amendments to Schedule 9A (exemptions relating to combined transport operations)

3.—(1) Schedule 9A to the principal Regulations shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (4).

(2) In paragraph 9(1)—

(a)in the definition of “loading unit” after the words “bi-modal vehicle” there shall be inserted “, road-rail semi-trailer”;

(b)after paragraph (b) of the definition of “railhead” there shall be inserted—

“or,

(c)road-rail semi-trailers from the ground onto railway vehicles on the track of a railway,”; and

(c)after the definition of “relevant receptacle” there shall be inserted the following definition—

““road-rail semi-trailer” means a semi-trailer constructed or adapted so as to be capable of being both used as a semi-trailer on roads and carried on a railway vehicle;”.

(3) In paragraph 9(3)—

(a)the word “and” after paragraph (a) shall be omitted; and

(b)at the end of sub-paragraph (b) there shall be inserted—

“; and

(c)a road-rail semi-trailer shall be regarded as being transported by railway in a relevant manner if and only if it is being carried on a railway vehicle which forms part of a train.”.

(4) After paragraph 9(4) there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—

“(5) A road-rail semi-trailer shall be regarded, for the purposes of this Schedule, as not being transported by railway in a relevant manner at any time when it is being carried on a railway vehicle as part of an articulated vehicle.”.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of the Environment on

L.S.
J. Ritchie
Assistant Secretary
1st December 1997.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)
These Regulations further amend the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989.
Regulation 2 provides for sirens to be fitted to cardiac response vehicles.
Regulation 3 amends Schedule 9A so as to extend the exemptions in regulations 74(1A), 75(2A) and 78(4) from the weight limits for goods vehicles in favour of combined road and rail transport operations to an articulated vehicle carrying a “road-rail semi-trailer”. This is defined as a semi-trailer constructed or adapted so as to be capable of being both used as a semi-trailer on roads and carried on a railway vehicle. The requirements for the exemption of articulated vehicles in Part II of Schedule 9A, as those requirements apply in relation to such vehicles when carrying “bi-modal vehicles” and “relevant receptacles”, are applied with modifications to articulated vehicles when carrying road-rail semi-trailers.


(1)
S.I. 1995/2994 (N.I. 18); see Article 2(2) for the definition of “the Department”

(2)
S.R. 1989 No. 299; relevant amending Regulations are S.R. 1994 No. 353