S.I. No. 334/1956 - Lighting of Vehicles (Amendment) Regulations, 1956.

S.I. No. 334 of 1956.

LIGHTING OF VEHICLES (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1956.

The Minister for Local Government in exercise of the powers conferred on him by paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of section 163 of the Road Traffic Act, 1933 (No. 11 of 1933) hereby makes the following Regulations :—

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Lighting of Vehicles (Amendment) Regulations, 1956.

(2) These Regulations and the Lighting of Vehicles Regulations, 1934 (S.R. & O. 1934 No. 166) shall be construed as one and may be collectively cited as the Lighting of Vehicles Regulations 1934 and 1956.

2. In these Regulations, " the Principal Regulations " means the Lighting of Vehicles Regulations, 1934.

3.—(1) Where a mechanically propelled vehicle draws one or more vehicles the following rear lamps, duly lit, visible from a reasonable distance to the rear and in efficient condition shall be carried on such vehicles during lighting-up hours :—

(a) in addition to the rear lamps required to be carried by Part X of the Road Traffic Act, 1933 , where the distance between the rearmost vehicle and the vehicle immediately preceding it does not exceed five feet, a rear lamp on the rearmost vehicle ;

(b) in substitution for the rear reflectors required to be carried by Part X of the Road Traffic Act, 1933 , where the distance between the drawing vehicle and the vehicle immediately drawn by it or between any two drawn vehicles exceeds five feet, a rear lamp on each drawn vehicle (except the first of any pair of such vehicles the distance between which does not exceed five feet) ;

(c) on the drawn vehicle (or where more than one vehicle is drawn on the rearmost drawn vehicle), a lamp so constructed and placed that it illuminates with a white light the identification mark under the Roads Act, 1920, carried at the rear of such vehicle.

(2) Each of the rear lamps required to be carried under paragraphs (a) and (b) of sub-article (1) of this article shall comply with the provisions of articles 10 and 11 of the Principal Regulations.

4. For the purposes of these Regulations, the distance between two vehicles shall be measured between the nearest points of such vehicles, and, in determining the nearest point of any vehicle, any draw-bar, wire or rope connecting the vehicles and any special fitting for the attachment of such draw-bar, wire or rope shall not be regarded as part of the vehicle.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Local Government this Twenty-eighth day of December One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty-six.

PATRICK O'DONNELL

Minister for Local Government.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations amend the Lighting of Vehicles Regulations, 1934. Their purpose is to require that rear lights shall be carried during lighting-up hours on trailers drawn by mechanically propelled vehicles as follows :—

(a) a red rear light on a single trailer ;

(b) a red rear light on the rearmost trailer of a group ;

(c) a red rear light on every other trailer of a group, except where the distance between it and the next following trailer does not exceed five feet ;

(d) a white light to illuminate the identification mark required to be carried on a trailer under the Roads Act, 1920.