United Kingdom traffic laws explained

Present laws (Great Britain)

• Highways Act 1980 (England and Wales)
• Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 (Scotland)
• Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
• Road Traffic Act 1988^[1]
• Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988
• Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions, initially introduced on 1 January 1965
• The Highway Code (Great Britain edition), not law but a set of information, advice, guides and mandatory rules for road users

History

• Highway Act 1835
• Locomotive Acts
• Locomotives on Highways Act 1896
• Motor Car Act 1903
• Roads Act 1920
• Road Traffic Act 1930
• Road Traffic Act 1934

Offences that apply to all vehicles

Causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving

Motor vehicle offences

• Causing death by dangerous driving
• Dangerous driving
• Careless driving/Driving without due care and attention

Motor vehicle document offences: see English criminal law#Forgery, personation and cheating

And see Drink driving (United Kingdom)

Bicycles

• Taylor v Goodwin (1879) 4 QBD 228 bicycles are defined as "carriages" and therefore not allowed on pavements; biker convicted for "furious" cycling.^[2]
• Cycle Tracks Act 1984, allows footpaths to be converted into cycle paths
• Highway Act 1835 s 72 (as amended by Local Government Act 1888 s 85(1)) prohibits cycling on footways (pavement beside carriageway). The fixed penalty is £30 under the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 s 51 and Sch 3.
• Crank v Brooks [1980] RTR 441, wheeling a bike is not "riding" it, per Waller LJ,
• Licensing Act 1872, an offence to be drunk and in charge of a bike.
• Road Traffic Act 1988 s 30, creates an offence for being incapable of having proper control, not necessarily being a bit drunk.
• Maximum penalty for dangerous cycling is £2500.
• £30 fine for running a red light.
• Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, amended 2003, cyclists not included in law making it illegal to talk on a mobile phone.

Northern Ireland

Present laws

• Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act (Northern Ireland) 1930
• Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981
• The Roads (Northern Ireland) Order 1993
• The Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995
• The Road Traffic Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1996
• The Road Traffic Regulation (Northern Ireland) Order 1997
• The Road Traffic (New Drivers) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998
• The Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 2007
• Traffic Signs Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997
• The Highway Code (Northern Ireland edition)

Offences that apply to all vehicles

Causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving

Motor vehicle offences

• Causing death or grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving
• Dangerous driving

See also

• Transport in the United Kingdom

External links

• Carlton Reid, 'Cycling and the law' (retrieved 2.10.2009) Bikeforall.net

Notes and References

1. Web site: Road Traffic Act 1988.
2. Taylor v. Goodwin, https://books.google.com/books?id=Sm0yAAAAIAAJ&q=%22taylor+v.+goodwin%22+1879see&pg=PA748; also, Smith v Kynnersley [1903] 1 KB 788 (cyclist not liable to pay bridge toll) and Corkery v Carpenter [1951] I KB 102 (cyclist liable for offence where cycling drunk)