Road Traffic Act, 2002

Protection of environment.

13.—(1) The Minister may, for the purposes of—

(a) the protection of the environment and the reduction or elimination of damage to it caused by the use of vehicles,

(b) the protection of—

(i) persons and animals from damage to health, distress and discomfort, and

(ii) other property from damage,

caused by harmful emissions and excessive noise from vehicles, and

(c) the reduction or elimination of such emissions and noise,

make such regulations as he or she considers appropriate in relation to vehicles, emissions from, or noise of, vehicles constituting environmental pollution (within the meaning of the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992 ) and the use of vehicles in public places.

(2) Regulations under this section may, in particular and without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), make provision in relation to all or any of the following matters:

(a) the construction of vehicles,

(b) the prohibition of the fitting to vehicles or the use thereon of specified vehicle equipment,

(c) the regulation, restriction or prohibition of the use of specified fuels or additives to fuels in engines, or specified engines, of vehicles either generally or in specified places or at specified times or in specified weather conditions or other specified circumstances,

(d) the carriage on vehicles on public roads or specified public roads of specified goods or materials either generally or at specified times or in specified weather conditions or other specified circumstances,

(e) the adaptation and modification of the engines of vehicles,

(f) the restriction or prohibition of the use of vehicles in specified places or localities or at specified times or in specified weather conditions or other specified circumstances,

(g) the restriction, by the imposition of maximum speed limits, of the speeds at which vehicles may be driven in specified places or localities or at specified times or in specified weather conditions or other specified circumstances, and

(h) the prohibition of the use of vehicles on specified roads or specified parts of specified roads.

(3) Different regulations may be made under this section for different classes of vehicles.

(4) Where a vehicle does not comply with a regulation under this section, the registered owner of the vehicle shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) A person shall not use in a public place a vehicle that does not comply with a regulation under this section.

(6) A person who contravenes subsection (5) of this section or a regulation under this section shall be guilty of an offence; and where the contravention is of the said subsection (5) and the person is not the registered owner of the vehicle concerned, the registered owner shall also, in such cases as may be prescribed, be guilty of an offence.

(7) Where a person who contravenes subsection (4) of this section is not the registered owner of the vehicle concerned and such owner is charged with an offence under that subsection in relation to the matter, it shall be a defence to the charge for the owner to show that the use of the vehicle on the occasion in question was unauthorised.

(8) In this section—

“vehicles” means mechanically propelled vehicles;

“vehicle equipment” has the meaning assigned to it by section 11 of the Principal Act.