PART VIII

Regulation of Traffic

59. —(1) A person who is found in a public place in such a condition, because he is under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a drug, as to be a source of danger to traffic or himself shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person charged with an offence under this section shall not, in respect of the facts alleged to constitute such offence, be charged under section 12 of the Licensing Act, 1836, section 12 of the Licensing Act, 1872, section 25 of the Licensing (Ireland) Act, 1874, or section 9 of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1908.

(3) Where a member of the Garda Síochána is of opinion that a person is committing an offence under this section he may arrest the person without warrant.

60. —(1) The Minister may make regulations for the general regulation and control of traffic and pedestrians in public places.

(2) Regulations under this section may, in particular and without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), provide for all or any of the following matters:

(a) specifying rules for the use of roads by traffic and pedestrians;

(b) specifying rules for the parking of vehicles in public places;

(c) requiring traffic to proceed along a specified side of the roadway or, in the case of dual or multiple carriageways, along a specified carriageway;

(d) assigning different parts of the roadway (including cycle tracks) to different traffic;

(e) prohibiting specified traffic from using specified parts of the roadway;

(f) prohibiting traffic from using footways;

(g) specifying rights of priority of passage for traffic proceeding in the same direction or in different directions (whether opposite or crossing);

(h) specifying the courses to be taken by traffic at road junctions;

(i) regulating and controlling the stopping, reversing, turning and overtaking of vehicles;

(j) regulating and controlling the driving of mechanically propelled vehicles and pedal cycles in relation to animals or animal-drawn traffic;

(k) regulating and controlling the driving or leading of animals;

(l) assigning specified parts of the road to pedestrians;

(m) regulating and controlling the conduct of pedestrians on roads (and, in particular, the crossing of roadways by pedestrians) and specifying the respective rights of priority of traffic and pedestrians on roadways;

(n) requiring specified signals to be given by persons in charge of traffic to indicate their intentions;

(o) the control of traffic and pedestrians by members of the Garda Síochána (and, in particular, specifying the signals to be given by such members and requiring persons in charge of traffic and pedestrians to obey those signals);

(p) the control and regulation of traffic and pedestrians by means of traffic signs in relation to which regulations (including regulations as to the significance to be attached to those signs) are for the time being in force under section 95 (2) of the Principal Act (and, in particular, requiring persons in charge of traffic and pedestrians to comply with any prohibition, restriction or requirement indicated by those signs);

(q) requiring persons in charge of traffic to give audible warning of their approach;

(r) prohibiting (or prohibiting save where authorised by specified persons and subject to such conditions as may be attached to the authorisation) or restricting races, rallies, trials of speed or other competitions on roads;

(s) specifying rules for the speed of traffic in specified circumstances.

(3) Different regulations may be made under this section—

(a) in respect of different classes of traffic,

(b) for different circumstances, different areas and different classes of roads.

(4) Bye-laws made under section 88 of the Principal Act and in force at the commencement of this section shall continue in force and shall be deemed to be regulations made under this section and shall be capable of being amended or revoked accordingly.

(5) A person who contravenes a regulation under this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(6) In this section “traffic” does not include pedestrians.

61. —Section 93 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution of the following paragraph for subsection (1) (a):

“(a) A road authority, railway or canal company or other person liable to maintain a bridge carrying a public road may, by notices in the prescribed form placed in the prescribed manner on the approaches to the bridge, prohibit any vehicle or combination of vehicles which, or any part of which, transmits to the surface of that road a weight exceeding that specified in the notice in relation to such a vehicle or combination of vehicles or any part of such a vehicle or combination, from passing over that bridge either (as may be specified in the notices) at all, at a speed exceeding a specified speed or save on compliance with specified conditions.”,

(b) by the insertion of the following paragraph after subsection (1) (b):

“(c) The reference in this subsection to a weight transmitted to the surface of a road by a vehicle or combination of vehicles shall be construed as a reference to the weight of such vehicle or combination, together with the weight of its load (if any), when such vehicle or combination is stationary, and the reference in this subsection to a weight transmitted to the surface of a road by any part of a vehicle or combination of vehicles shall be construed accordingly.”, and

(c) by the insertion after “vehicle” in subsection (6), and in subsection (8) wherever that word occurs, of “or combination of vehicles”.

62. —(1) The Minister may by order—

(a) transfer to a specified road authority a specified function in relation to a specified area (whether within or without their functional area) of the Commissioner under section 84, 85, 86, 89, 90, 93, 94, 95, or 96 of the Principal Act,

(b) transfer to a specified road authority the functions of the appropriate local authority under section 90 (3) of the Principal Act and transfer to another road authority a function of a road authority under section 93, 94 or 95 of the Principal Act.

(2) The Minister may by order revoke or amend an order under this section.

(3) An order under this section may contain such consequential or ancillary provisions as are reasonably necessary for the implementation of the transfer effected by the order and may contain such modifications of the Principal Act as are reasonably necessary for that purpose.

63. —The following section is hereby substituted for section 97 of the Principal Act:

“Removal of vehicles abandoned or unlawfully parked.

97. (1) The Minister may make regulations authorising and providing for the removal, storage and disposal of vehicles which—

(a) have been, or appear to have been, abandoned on a public road, or in a car park provided under section 101 of this Act, or

(b) have been parked in contravention of this Act or of a regulation, bye-law or rule thereunder.

(2) Regulations under this section may, in particular and without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section—

(a) specify the persons or classes of persons by or on whose authority vehicles may be removed, stored or disposed of,

(b) authorise and provide for the recovery by persons referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection from the owners of vehicles removed or stored of charges, in accordance with a prescribed scale, in respect of such removal or storage and for the disposition of moneys received in respect of such charges,

(c) authorise and provide for the sale (or the disposal otherwise than by sale) by or on behalf of persons referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection of vehicles removed or stored and provide for the disposition of moneys received in respect of such sale or other disposal.

(3) Regulations under this section may apply generally or in such circumstances as may be specified in such regulations and different regulations may be made for different circumstances.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, a vehicle removed under this section shall not be disposed of thereunder before the expiration of a period of six weeks from the date of the removal or two weeks after notice has been given in the prescribed manner, whichever is the longer.

(5) A person who obstructs or impedes, or assists another person to obstruct or impede, the removal of a vehicle under this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(6) No action shall lie in respect of anything done in good faith and without negligence in the course of the removal, storage or disposal of a vehicle under this section.

(7) For the purposes of this section ‘vehicle’ shall include—

(a) a part of a vehicle,

(b) an article designed as a vehicle but not at the time of removal capable of functioning as a vehicle,

(c) a load on or in a vehicle.”