S.I. No. 138/1969:

ROAD TRAFFIC (CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND USE OF VEHICLES) (AMENDMENT) (NO. 2) REGULATIONS, 1969.

ROAD TRAFFIC (CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND USE OF VEHICLES) (AMENDMENT) (NO. 2) REGULATIONS, 1969.

The Minister for Local Government in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 5 and 11 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961 (No. 24 of 1961) hereby makes the following Regulations:--

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 1969.

(2) The Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963 to 1969 and these Regulations shall be construed as one.

(3) The collective citation " the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963 to 1969 " shall include these Regulations.

2. In these Regulations " safety frame " means a rigid framework or safety cab designed to protect the driver of a tractor from being crushed if the tractor overturns.

3. (1) These Regulations shall apply--

(a) on and after the 1st September, 1970 to tractors which are registered on or after the 1st day of September, 1970, and

(b) on and after the 1st September, 1977 to every tractor.

(2) These Regulations shall not apply to--

(a) a tractor the unladen weight of which exceeds 7¼ tons,

(b) the drawing component of an articulated vehicle,

(c) a mechanically self-propelled harvester.

4. Every tractor to which these Regulations apply shall be fitted, while used in a public place, with a safety frame of a type which is capable of satisfying the test for safety frames set out as Optional Test (15), Safety Cabs and Frames, in the Standard Code for the Official Testing of Agricultural Tractors published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in O.E.C.D. Document C (66) 135 (Final) of 30 January, 1967 annexed to No. 79 Documentation 1966 Series in Agriculture and Food.

5. A safety frame shall be so fitted to a tractor and shall be so maintained as to afford the protection for which it is designed.

6. Where a person is charged with a contravention of article 4 of these Regulations it shall be a good defence to the charge to show that the tractor was, at the time of the contravention--

(a) being used in a public place for the purpose of proceeding for the first time from the point of entry into the State to the residence or place of business of the owner of the tractor, or,

(b) fitted with a safety frame permanently and legibly marked by the manufacturer with a test mark or number allocated to him by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in respect of safety frames of that type.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Local Government this 18th day of July, 1969.

CAOIMHGHÍN Ó BEOLÁIN,

Aire Rialtais Áitiúil.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations make it obligatory to fit safety frames on tractors used in a public place and the unladen weight of which does not exceed 7¼ tons. The Regulations apply in two stages : -- (a) initially to tractors registered for the first time on or after 1st September, 1970, and (b) as from 1st September, 1977 to older tractors. The standard for safety frames is that agreed to by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.