UK Offence Report

Requirement to notify bus passengers to wear seat belts

regulation 24A(4) of The Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 (revoked)

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

4 An operator who fails to comply with paragraph (1) is guilty of an offence.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
an operator
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that an operator meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 24A(4)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. On these words an offence is committed where an operator fails to comply with paragraph (1).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Motor Vehicles (Wearing of Seat Belts) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
9 January 2007
In force from
27 February 2007
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make provision relating to the wearing of seat belts and other restraints by children and adults in motor vehicles. They amend the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (the “Road Traffic Order”) and the Road Traffic Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (the “Offenders Order”). They implement requirements of Council Directive 2003/20/EC (OJ No L 115 9.5.2003, p63). Regulation 4(1) inserts a new paragraph (1A) into Article 24 of the Road Traffic Order to provide that a child should not be transported in the front of a motor vehicle other than a bus using a rear- facing child restraint unless any front air bag has been deactivated entirely or is designed or adapted in such a way that it cannot inflate enough to pose a risk of injury to a child travelling in a rear-facing child restraint. Transporting a child in a motor vehicle other than a bus in circumstances where the front air bag has not been so deactivated or is not so designed is made an offence (regulation 4(2)) punishable on summary conviction with a maximum fine of level 2 on the standard scale (see regulation 7 which makes consequential changes to the Offenders Order to this effect). Regulation 4(3) amends Article 24(3) of the Road Traffic Order to prohibit, except as provided by regulations, a motor vehicle being driven with a child under the age of 3 years in the rear of the vehicle unless the child is restrained by a seat belt conforming with regulations. The amended Article 24(3) also applies the same prohibition to a child aged 3 or more but less than 14 where any seat belt is fitted in the rear of the vehicle. The Regulations (regulation 5) also insert a new Article 24A into the Road Traffic Order requiring bus operators to take reasonable steps to ensure that bus passengers are notified that they are required to wear a seat belt. This may be done by means of an announcement by the driver or by a courier, conductor or group leader or by means of an audio-visual presentation or by signs displayed at every seating position. New Article 24A(2) of, and schedule 2A, to the Road Traffic Order also specify a form of sign which may be used to meet the notification requirement (regulation 5 and 6). A new Article 24B defines a “local service”. Operators who fail to take reasonable steps to ensure passengers are notified as set out above are guilty of an offence (regulation 5). Consequentially amendments to the Offenders Order make the offence punishable on summary conviction with a maximum fine of up to level 4 on the standard scale (regulation 7). The requirement to notify bus passengers does not apply where the bus is being used to provide a local service in a built up area or where the bus is constructed or adapted for the carriage of standing passengers on services in which standing is permitted. A copy of the regulatory impact assessment has been produced and may be obtained from the Department of the Environment, Road Safety Division website at www.roadsafetyni.gov.uk. A copy of Council Directive 2003/20/EC can be obtained from TSO, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source