Road Traffic Act, 1961
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Interpretation. |
3.—(1) In this Act, save where the context otherwise requires—. | |
“ancillary disqualification order” has the meaning specified in subsection (1) of section 27; | ||
“appointed stand” has the meaning specified in subsection (1) of section 84; | ||
“appointed weighbridge” has the meaning specified in subsection (1) of section 15; | ||
“approved guarantee” has the meaning specified in section 63; | ||
“approved policy of insurance” has the meaning specified in section 62; | ||
“built-up area speed limit” has the meaning specified in subsection (4) of section 45; | ||
“certificate of competency” has the meaning specified in subsection (4) of section 33; | ||
“certificate of fitness” has the meaning specified in subsection (4) of section 34; | ||
“certificate of exemption” has the meaning specified in section 68; | ||
“certificate of guarantee” has the meaning specified in subsection (2) of section 66; | ||
“certificate of insurance” has the meaning specified in subsection (1) of section 66; | ||
“combination of vehicles” means a mechanically propelled vehicle and a vehicle or vehicles drawn thereby; | ||
“the Commissioner” means the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána; | ||
“consequential disqualification order” has the meaning specified in subsection (1) of section 26; | ||
“contravenes” includes refuses or fails to comply with, and “contravention” shall be construed accordingly; | ||
“driving” includes managing and controlling and, in relation to a bicycle or tricycle, riding, and “driver” and other cognate words shall be construed accordingly; | ||
“driving licence” has the meaning specified in subsection (1) of section 22; | ||
“footway” means that portion of any road which is provided primarily for the use of pedestrians; | ||
“hire-drive agreement” means, in relation to a mechanically propelled vehicle, an agreement under which the vehicle is hired from its registered owner, other than— | ||
(a) a hire-purchase agreement, | ||
(b) an agreement merely for the carriage of persons or goods, or | ||
(c) an agreement under which the registered owner of the vehicle drives, or provides a driver for, the vehicle; | ||
“the insured” has the meaning assigned to it in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 62; | ||
“large public service vehicle” means a public service vehicle having seating passenger accommodation for more than eight persons exclusive of the driver; | ||
“mechanically propelled vehicle” means, subject to subsection (2) of this section, a vehicle intended or adapted for propulsion by mechanical means, including— | ||
(a) a bicycle or tricycle with an attachment for propelling it by mechanical power, whether or not the attachment is being used, | ||
(b) a vehicle the means of propulsion of which is electrical or partly electrical and partly mechanical, | ||
but not including a tramcar or other vehicle running on permanent rails; | ||
“the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government; | ||
“mobile weighbridge” has the meaning specified in subsection (7) of section 15; | ||
“omnibus” means a large public service vehicle which is for the time being used on a definite route for the carriage of passengers who are carried at separate fares and are picked up and set down along such route whether on request or at fixed stopping places; | ||
“ordinary speed limit” has the meaning specified in subsection (3) of section 44; | ||
“owner”, when used in relation to a mechanically propelled vehicle which is the subject of a hire-purchase agreement, means the person in possession of the vehicle under the agreement; | ||
“park”, in relation to a vehicle, means keep or leave stationary, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly; | ||
“parking place” has the meaning specified in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section 90; | ||
“pedal bicycle” means a bicycle which is intended or adapted for propulsion solely by the physical exertions of a person or persons seated thereon; | ||
“pedal cycle” means a vehicle which is a pedal bicycle or pedal tricycle; | ||
“pedal cyclist” means a person driving a pedal cycle; | ||
“pedal tricycle” means a tricycle which is intended or adapted for propulsion solely by the physical exertions of a person or persons seated thereon; | ||
“pedestrian-controlled mechanically propelled vehicle” means a mechanically propelled vehicle— | ||
(a) which is neither intended nor adapted for use for carrying the driver or a passenger, or | ||
(b) which is intended or adapted so that there are alternative methods of driving it, namely, by a person carried on it or by a pedestrian, | ||
except during a period during which it is driven while carrying the driver or a passenger | ||
“period of cover” has the meaning assigned to it in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 62 or paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 63 (as may be appropriate); | ||
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act; | ||
“principal debtor” has the meaning assigned to it in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 63; | ||
“public place” means any street, road or other place to which the public have access with vehicles whether as of right or by permission and whether subject to or free of charge; | ||
“public road” means a road the responsibility for the maintenance of which lies on a road authority; | ||
“public service vehicle” means a mechanically propelled vehicle used for the carriage of persons for reward; | ||
“registered owner” has the meaning assigned to it by the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations, 1958, but, if those regulations should be revoked, it shall have the meaning assigned to it by such regulations corresponding to those regulations as may for the time being be in force; | ||
“the repealed Act” means the Road Traffic Act, 1933 (repealed by this Act); | ||
“road” includes any bridge, pipe, arch, gully, footway, pavement, fence, railing or wall forming part thereof; | ||
“road authority” means— | ||
(a) the council of a county, | ||
(b) the corporation of a county or other borough, or | ||
(c) the council of an urban district; | ||
“road traffic weighbridge” has the meaning specified in subsection (4) of section 15; | ||
“roadway” means that portion of a road which is provided primarily for the use of vehicles; | ||
“small public service vehicle” means a public service vehicle which is not a large public service vehicle; | ||
“special disqualification order” has the meaning specified in subsection (5) of section 28; | ||
“special speed limit” has the meaning specified in subsection (4) of section 46; | ||
“street service vehicle” means a small public service vehicle the driver of which offers on a public road himself and the vehicle for hire and for that purpose stands or drives the vehicle on a public road; | ||
“test certificate” has the meaning specified in paragraph (b) of subsection (8) of section 18; | ||
“use”, in relation to a vehicle, includes park, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly; | ||
“vehicle guarantor” has the meaning specified in section 59; | ||
“vehicle insurer” has the meaning specified in section 58. | ||
(2) Where a vehicle, which, apart from this subsection, would be a mechanically propelled vehicle, stands so substantially disabled (either through accident, breakdown or the removal of the engine or other such vital part) as to be no longer capable of being propelled mechanically, it shall be regarded for the purposes of this Act as not being a mechanically propelled vehicle. | ||
(3) Save in relation to animal-drawn vehicles, any reference in this Act to a drawn vehicle is to a vehicle attached to another (including attached by way of partial superimposition) for the purpose of being drawn thereby, or actually drawn thereby. | ||
(4) Any reference in this Act to the Rules of the Road is to the publication issued (whether before or after the commencement of this section) under that title by the Minister, being the edition thereof which, at the relevant time, is the latest edition. | ||
(5) Any reference in this Act to use of a vehicle with the consent of a person includes a reference to use with his implied consent and to use on his order. |