The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 1990

Made: 31st May 1990

Laid before Parliament: 8th June 1990

Coming into force: 29th June 1990

The Secretary of State for Transport, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 41(1) and (5) of the Road Traffic Act 1988[^f00001], as read with sections 43 of that Act, and of all other enabling powers, and after consultation with representative organisations in accordance with section 195(2) of that Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

Citation and Commencement

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 1990 and shall come into force on 29th June 1990.

Preliminary

2

• (1) The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986[^f00002] shall be further amended in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations.

• (2) The Secretary of State is satisfied that—

• (a) it is requisite that the provisions of regulation 3 shall apply as from 29th June 1990 to vehicles registered under the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971[^f00003] before the expiration of one year from the making of these Regulations; and

• (b) notwithstanding that the said provision will then apply to those vehicles, no undue hardship or inconvenience will be caused thereby.

Amendments to regulation 7 (length of vehicle and combination of vehicles)

3

• (1) Regulation 7 shall be amended as follows.

• (2) After sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (3) there shall be added—

or (c) an articulated vehicle, the semi-trailer of which is a low loader manufactured before 1st April 1991.

• (3) In paragraph (6), the words “or if there is more than one king-pin, the foremost one,” in sub-paragraph (a) and the words “or, if there is more than one king-pin, the rearmost one,” in sub-paragraph (b) shall be omitted.

• (4) After paragraph (7) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

(7A) Where a semi-trailer has more than one king-pin or is constructed so that it can be used with a king-pin in different positions, references in this regulation to a distance from the king-pin shall be construed as the distance from the rearmost king-pin or, as the case may be, the rearmost king-pin position.

Amendments to regulation 13A (turning circle—articulated vehicles other than those incorporated in a car transporter

4

In regulation 13A (2), the word “and” shall be inserted at the end of sub-paragraph (a) and sub-paragraph (b) shall be omitted.

Signed

Signed by authority of theSecretary of State for Transport

Robert Atkins — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, — Department of Transport — 31st May 1990

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

1 These Regulations further amendthe Road Vehicles (Constructionand Use) Regulations 1986.

2 Under the 1986 Regulations as originally enacted, an articulated vehicle was subject to an overall lengthrestriction of 155 metres. As a result of S.I. 1990/317 such a vehicle could have an overall lengthof 165 metres if it met certain requirements. One of those requirements was that the longitudinal distance from the axis of the king-pin, or if there was more than one king-pin the foremost one, to the rear of the semi-trailer did not exceed 125 metres in the case of a car transporter or 12 metres in any other case. Another requirement was that the distance of any point on the front of the trailer from the king-pin, or if there was more than one king-pin the rearmost one, did not exceed 419 metres in the case of a car transporter or 204 metres in any other case. These regulations amend the 1986 Regulations so that the measurement is taken from the rearmost king-pin if there is more than one king-pin or the rearmost king-pin position if a king-pin can be fixed in different positions.

3 The 1986 Regulations as amended by S.I. 1990/317 imposed an overall lengthon an articulated vehicle, the semi-trailer of which is a low loader, of 18 metres. The Regulations are amended so that this provision does not apply to a low loader manufactured before1st April 1991.

4 The 1986 regulations as amended by S.I. 1990/317 impose turning circle requirements on articulated vehicles having an overall length exceeding 155 metres. An exception was made for articulated vehicles, the semi-trailer of which was manufactured before the 1st April 1990 and on that date had an overall lengthexceeding 122 metres providing the overall lengthdid not exceed the overall length it had on that date. As a result of the amendments made by these Regulations the exception applies in all cases wherea semi-trailer was manufactured before 1st April 1990 (whether its length exceeds 122 metres or not) provided its overall lengthis no greater than it was on that date.The amendment has no effect on the turning circle requirements relating to car transporters.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1988 c. 52.

[^f00002]: S.I. 1986/1078; relevant amending instrument is S.I. 1990/317.

[^f00003]: 1971 c. 10.