UK Offence Report

The M42 (Junctions 3A to 7) (Actively Managed Hard Shoulder and Variable Speed Limits) Regulations 2005

UK Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 1671 — creates 1 criminal offence.

1offences created
0recorded in force
0revoked
Made
18 June 2005
In force from
27 July 2005
Extent
Not stated
Subject
Road traffic and vehicles
Made under
Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — published with the instrument by the department that made it. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

These Regulations modify the Motorways Traffic (England and Wales) Regulations 1982 (“the 1982 Regulations”), in respect of the M42 Motorway, Junctions 3A to 7 and the adjoining slip roads (“the relevant roads”). On the relevant roads, the Regulations introduce variable speed limits and create the concept of an `actively managed hard shoulder', which is a section of hard shoulder which may, in certain circumstances, be driven on. Regulation 3 inserts a new regulation 5A into the 1982 Regulations, which provides that certain stretches of the hard shoulder of a relevant road may be used as a carriageway. These stretches (described as “relevant lengths”)— a start directly under an overheard gantry on which there is displayed a traffic sign of the type shown in diagram 670 in Schedule 2 to the Traffic Signs Regulations 2002 indicating that a speed limit other than the national speed limit applies to the hard shoulder; and b end immediately before an overhead gantry on which there is displayed a traffic sign of the type shown in diagram 5003.1 or 6031.1 in Schedule 10 to the Traffic Sign Regulations and General Directions 2002. Regulation 3 also introduces into the 1982 Regulations the concept of the `emergency refuge area', which has the same function as a hard shoulder and can be used in the circumstances set out in regulation 7(2) of the 1982 Regulations. Regulation 4 introduces variable speed limits in relation to the relevant roads. Vehicles may not be driven at a speed above the maximum indicated by a traffic sign until they pass a sign indicating that the restriction ceases to apply or that another speed limit applies or until the vehicle ceases to be on a relevant road. Where a speed limit changes less than 10 seconds before a vehicle passes the sign, this regulation allows a driver to proceed at a speed up to the maximum applicable before the change, and to continue to do so until he passes another speed limit sign. A copy of the regulatory impact assessment prepared in respect of these Regulations can be obtained from the M42 Active Traffic Management Pilot Team, C6, Broadway, Broad Street, Birmingham, B15 1BL. A copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament.

Offences created by this instrument

What Parliament said about it

Hansard was searched for this instrument by name and returned nothing. That is the ordinary outcome: an instrument laid under the negative procedure is usually never debated, and becomes law without a word said about it in either House.

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Parliament's Statutory Instruments service records procedure from May 2017 onwards, and this instrument predates it. That is a limit of the source, not a statement that nothing happened.

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