PART 3STREETS

Clearways, speed limits and prohibitions

16.—(1) From any such days as the undertaker may determine—

(a)no person is to drive any vehicle at a speed exceeding the limit in miles per hour specified in column (2) of Part 1 (speed limits) of Schedule 6 (traffic regulation measures) along the lengths of road identified in the corresponding row of column (1) of that Part;

(b)no person is to drive a vehicle on a section of a road which is subject to a variable speed limit at a speed exceeding that indicated by a variable message sign (paragraphs (4) and (5) make further provision in respect of variable speed limits);

(c)the restrictions specified in column (2) of Part 2 (clearways and other restrictions) of Schedule 6 are to apply to the lengths of road identified in the corresponding row of column (1) of that Part except upon the direction of, or with the permission of, a constable or traffic officer in uniform; and

(d)the orders specified in column (2) of Part 3 (variations of existing traffic regulation orders) of Schedule 6 are to be varied or revoked as specified in the corresponding row of column (3) of that Part in respect of the lengths of roads specified in the corresponding row of column (1) of that Part,

except that no speed limit imposed by or under paragraph (1)(a) or (b) applies to vehicles falling within regulation 3(4) of the Road Traffic Exemptions (Special Forces) (Variation and Amendment) Regulations 2011(1) when used in accordance with regulation 3(5) of those regulations.

(2) Nothing in paragraph (1)(c) applies—

(a)to render it unlawful to cause or permit a vehicle to stop or wait on any part of a road, for so long as may be necessary to enable that vehicle to be used in connection with—

(i)the removal of any obstruction to traffic;

(ii)the maintenance, improvement, reconstruction or operation of the road;

(iii)the laying, erection, maintenance, or renewal in or near the road of any sewer, main pipe, conduit, wire, cable or other apparatus for the supply of gas, water, electricity or any electronic communications apparatus as defined in Schedule 3A (the electronic communications code)(2) to the Communications Act 2003; or

(iv)any building operation or demolition;

(b)in relation to a vehicle being used—

(i)for police, ambulance, fire and rescue authority or traffic officer purposes;

(ii)in the service of a local planning authority or highway authority, safety camera partnership or Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency in pursuance of statutory powers or duties;

(iii)in the service of a water or sewerage undertaker within the meaning of the Water Industry Act 1991(3); or

(iv)by a universal service provider for the purposes of providing a universal postal service as defined by the Postal Services (Universal Postal Service) Order 2012(4); or

(c)in relation to a vehicle waiting when the person in control of it is—

(i)required by law to stop;

(ii)obliged to stop in order to avoid an accident; or

(iii)prevented from proceeding by circumstances outside the person’s control.

(3) No person is to cause or permit any vehicle to stop or wait on any part of the roads described in Part 2 (trunk roads) of Schedule 5 for the purposes of selling, or dispensing of, goods from that vehicle, unless the goods are immediately delivered at, or taken into, premises adjacent to the land on which the vehicle stood when the goods were sold or dispensed.

(4) In relation to those sections of road identified in column (1) of Part 1 (speed limits) of Schedule 6 (traffic regulation measures) as being subject to a variable speed limit in column (2) of that Part, a vehicle will be subject to the speed limit shown on a variable messaging sign provided that vehicle has not subsequently passed—

(a)another speed limit sign indicating a different speed limit; or

(b)a traffic sign which indicates that the national speed limit is in force.

(5) The speed limit indicated by a variable messaging sign is the speed shown at the time the vehicle passes the sign, or—

(a)if higher, the speed limit shown by the sign ten seconds before the vehicle passed the sign; or

(b)if, no speed limit is shown by the sign ten seconds before the vehicle passed the sign, the national speed limit.

(6) Paragraphs (1) to (5) have effect as if made by order under the 1984 Act, and their application may be varied or revoked by an order made under that Act or any other enactment which provides for the variation or revocation of such orders.

(7) In this article—

“a traffic sign which indicates that the national speed limit is in force” means a traffic sign of the type shown in diagram 671 in Part 2 (signs and road markings indicating speed limits) of Schedule 10 (signs for speed limits)to those Regulations and General Directions;

“national speed limit” has the meaning given by Schedule 1 (definitions)(5) to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016;

“road” includes the adjacent hard shoulder and verge;

“speed limit sign” means a traffic sign of the type shown in diagram 670 in Part 2 of Schedule 10 or diagram 6001 in Part 2 (matrix signs and light signals for motorways and all-purpose dual carriageway roads) of Schedule 15 (matrix signs and light signals for the control of moving traffic on motorways and dual carriageway roads) to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 which is—

and

“variable message sign” has the meaning given by Schedule 1 (definitions) to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016.