UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations and General Directions 1997

the instrument as a whole of The Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations and General Directions 1997 (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

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations and General Directions 1997.

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
3 October 1997
In force from
15 December 1997
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 Instrument) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Instrument revokes the existing Regulations relating to Zebra and Pelican pedestrian crossings and the General Directions relating to Pelican crossings and replaces them with a single Instrument. This comprises Regulations relating to both Zebra and Pelican crossings and to a new type of pedestrian crossing to be known as a Puffin crossing, together with General Directions relating to Pelican and Puffin crossings. The Instrument applies to England and Wales and to Scotland. Part I of the Instrument comprises the Regulations. In Section I of the Regulations, regulation 1 provides for their citation and for a collective citation for both Parts of the Instrument. The existing Zebra and Pelican Regulations are revoked by regulation 2 and regulation 3 provides for the interpretation of the Regulations. Some of the definitions also apply for the interpretation of the Directions (see direction 3). Section II of the Regulations provides for the form of the three types of crossing. Regulation 5 specifies by reference to Schedules 1 to 4 the traffic signs and road markings required to indicate each type of crossing and regulation 6 specifies by reference to Schedules 1 and 4 road markings for the give-way and stop lines and for controlled areas. The dimensions of the traffic signs and road markings may be varied in accordance with regulation 7 and regulation 8 enables additional equipment to be provided at pedestrian crossings. Regulation 9 authorises the placing of certain other traffic signs at or near a crossing, if the traffic authority think fit. By virtue of regulation 10, non-compliance with Section II is to not affect the validity of a crossing or controlled area if the non-compliance does not materially affect its general appearance, does not affect the proper operation of the signals at a Pelican or Puffin crossing and does not relate to the size of the controlled area. Section III prescribes the indications which are to be conveyed to traffic by the signs and road markings at crossings. The significance of vehicular light signals at Pelican and Puffin crossings is prescribed by regulations 12 and 13. Regulation 14 prescribes the significance of the pedestrian light signals at Pelican crossings and the figures on pedestrian demand units at Puffin crossings and regulation 16 provides for any additional traffic signs placed under regulation 9 to convey the indications prescribed for them by the Traffic Signs Regulations 1994. Section IV of the Regulations makes provision with respect to the movement of traffic at and in the vicinity of crossings. By virtue of regulation 18 a driver must not stop his vehicle within the limits of any sort of crossing unless he is prevented by circumstances beyond his control or he has to stop to avoid injury or damage. Regulation 19 prohibits pedestrians from delaying on crossings. Regulation 20 contains a general prohibition on the stopping of a vehicle (which for this purpose does not include a pedal cycle) within a controlled area save where one of the exceptions in regulations 21 and 22 applies. Regulation 23 prohibits any vehicle (including a pedal cycle) from going across a Pelican or Puffin crossing when a red light is showing and regulation 24 contains a general prohibition against overtaking by motor vehicles at crossing. Regulation 25 gives pedestrians precedence within the limits of a Zebra crossing and regulation 26 specifies the circumstances in which a pedestrian has precedence over vehicles at a Pelican crossing. Schedule 1 makes detailed provision for the size, colour and type of traffic signs and road markings to indicate Zebra crossings and Zebra controlled areas, Schedule 2 for the traffic signs to indicate Pelican crossings, Schedule 3 for the traffic signs to indicate Puffin crossings and Schedule 4 for the road markings to indicate Pelican and Puffin crossings and controlled areas and stop lines. Part II of the Instrument contains General Directions as to the placing of traffic signs and road markings at Pelican and Puffin crossings. The Directions impose requirements relating to the placing of vehicular light signals at both types of crossings (direction 4) and to the placing of pedestrian light signals and indicators for pedestrians at Pelican crossings (direction 5) and pedestrian demand units at Puffin crossings (direction 6). Direction 7 restricts the use of certain additional traffic signs and direction 8 imposes requirements as to the colouring of the containers and mounting of light signals. The Secretary of State’s approval is required for equipment (as defined) used in connection with crossings (direction 9) and the Secretary of State’s power of special direction is preserved by direction 10. These Regulations and Directions have been notified to the European Commission pursuant to Directive 83/189/EEC of 28th March 1983 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (OJ 1983 L109, p. 9) as amended by Council Directive 88/182/EEC of 22nd March 1988 (OJ 1988 L81, p. 75) and European Parliament and Council Directive 94/10/EEC of 23 March 1994 (OJ 1994 L100, p. 30). Copies of the Directives can be obtained from the Stationery Office.

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 0.70.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.70 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