S.I. No. 178/2014 - Road Traffic Act 2006 (Restriction on Use of Mobile Phones) Regulations 2014.

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 18th April, 2014.

I, LEO VARADKAR, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 (4)(a) of the Road Traffic Act 2006 (No. 23 of 2006), hereby make the following regulations:

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Road Traffic Act 2006 (Restriction on Use of Mobile Phones) Regulations 2014.

(2) These Regulations come into operation on 1 May 2014.

2. These Regulations do not apply to a person to whom section 3 (1) of the Road Traffic Act 2006 (No. 23 of 2006) applies.

3. In these Regulations—

“read a text message” includes access or open a text message (other than by voice-activation) so that it can be read;

“send a text message” includes compose and type a text message, but does not include anything done without touching the mobile phone;

“SMS” and “MMS” have the meanings assigned to them by Regulation 2(1) of the European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Framework) Regulations 2011 ( S.I. No. 333 of 2011 );

“text message” includes an SMS, an MMS message and an email.

4. A person shall not while driving a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place—

(a) send a text message, or

(b) read a text message,

from a mobile phone.

Given under my Official Seal,

11 April 2014.

LEO VARADKAR,

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These Regulations make it an offence to send or read a text from a mobile phone while driving a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place.