UK Offence Report

Contravention of The M9/A90/M90 Trunk Road (Kirkliston to Halbeath) (Variable Speed Limits and Actively…

the instrument as a whole of The M9/A90/M90 Trunk Road (Kirkliston to Halbeath) (Variable Speed Limits and Actively Managed Hard Shoulder) Regulations 2012

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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under sections

5 and 17(4) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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 a person 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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the M9/A90/M90 Trunk Road (Kirkliston to Halbeath) (Variable Speed Limits and Actively Managed Hard Shoulder) Regulations 2012.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to sections 5 and 17(4) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
16 May 2012
In force from
1 September 2012
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 for variable speed limits on various sections of the road known as the M9/A90/M90 Edinburgh to Fraserburgh Trunk Road from Kirkliston at Humbie Rail Bridge to Halbeath (“the relevant road”). Regulation 3 provides for variable speed limits to have effect on the sections of the relevant road specified in the Schedule. Where variable speed limit signs are in operation a vehicle may not be driven at a speed above the maximum indicated by each speed limit sign passed by the vehicle. Where a speed limit sign changes 10 seconds or less before a vehicle passes the sign and the sign had indicated a higher speed limit, the regulation allows a driver to proceed at a speed up to the maximum applicable before the change. Where the speed limit sign indicates a speed limit when it is passed by the vehicle but 10 seconds before it was not showing any speed limit the sign is to be taken as not indicating any speed limit to that vehicle. In this instance the variable speed limit provisions will not apply and the default maximum speed will be 70 miles per hour as provided for by the Motorways Traffic (Speed Limit) Regulations 1974. The Regulations also apply the Motorways Traffic (Scotland) Regulations 1995 (“the 1995 Regulations”) to the relevant road as if they have been modified to provide for “an actively managed hard shoulder”, which is a hard shoulder which in certain circumstances may be driven on. The Regulations provide that the only vehicles permitted to drive on the actively managed hard shoulder are motor vehicles constructed or adapted to carry more than 23 seated passengers (exclusive of the driver) (see regulation 4). In relation to the relevant road regulation 4 has the effect of substituting for the current regulation 8 of the 1995 Regulations new regulations 8, 8A and 8B. New regulation 8A provides that sections of the hard shoulder set out in Schedule 2 (provided by regulation 4(e) of these Regulations) may be used as a carriageway by permitted vehicles unless a traffic sign of the type shown in diagram 5003, 5003.1 or 6031 (various forms of red crosses) are displayed on the overhead gantry above it. New regulation 8B provides that where the hard shoulder is being used as a carriageway by the permitted vehicles any vehicle using it or intending to use it for the purposes of a hard shoulder should, as soon as and insofar as reasonably practicable and safe, move off the actively managed hard shoulder and on to one of the emergency refuge areas provided. Contravention of the Regulations is an offence under section 17(4) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

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 0.69.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.69 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