Police powers, 3
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By Les Oldrid!
5ECTION 22 of the Road Traffic kct 1972 makes it an offence for my person driving any vehicle, ln the direction of a constable angaged in the regulation of :raffic on a road, to refuse to ;top or proceed or keep to a )articular line of traffic.
There is no provision that the ;onstable should be in uniform, )ut in practice some evidence hat the driver knew the man was a policeman would be .equired. The powers of a ooliceman set out in this section nay be exercised by a traffic varden. There is a maximum me of £100 for this offence.
The court must endorse an offender's driving licence, mless there are "special .easons" for not doing so and it nay disqualify him from driving. rhe provisions for iisqualification and indorsement do not apply when he offence is failing to obey a raffic warden's signal (Rumbles
Poole (1980) RTR 449).
In the case of Ken tesber v Naumsley (1980) Crim LA 383 it vas held that a driver who has :topped in accordance with a :onstable's or traffic warden's :ommand does not necessarily :ommit an offence if he moves in without being ordered to do o. The offence is committed vhere a driver who has already topped proceeds in defiance of I command to remain tationary.
Section 18 of the Road Traffic kct 1974 legalises the use of a lare for the purpose of egulating traffic by a constable 1r other person acting under his Luthority. A flare is defined as a irework or other device lesigned to produce light by ombustion.
Section 22A of the Road .raffic Act 1972 deals with lolicemen's powers to regulate raffic at traffic surveys. It lays lown that where such a survey 5 carried out on or near the
vicinity of a road, a traffic direction given by a constable fOr the purpose of the survey is a direction given by him in the execution of his duty and in the regulation of traffic under section 22, detailed above.
Traffic direction, in this section, means a direction to stop a vehicle, to make it proceed in, or keep to, a particular line of traffic or to proceed to a particular point on or near a road, but does not include a direction requiring any person to furnish any information for the purpose of the traffic survey.
Section 159 of the Road Traffic Act 1972 creates a further offence of "failing to stop". It reads: "A person driving a motor vehicle on a road and a person riding a cycle, not being a motor vehicle, on a road shall dtop the same on being so required by a constable in uniform, and if he fails to do so he shall be guilty of an offence." Unlike in Section 22 in this case the constable need not be regulating traffic but he must be in uniform.
In R v Waterfield (1964)1 Q8 164 it was held to be doubtful if the power of a police officer to stop a vehicle includes the power to require a stationary car not to move.
In this case, the driver was held not guilty of assaulting a constable in the execution of his duty when trying to prevent a driver moving away because the officer was not acting under a duty by the section. (One would think that a charge of reckless driving, if the policeman was in some danger, would have been appropriate.) Production of documents The following persons must produce for examination to a police constable on request his driving licence, certificate of insurance and test certificate, if the vehicle concerned needs one: (a) a person driving a motor vehicle on a road; (b) the person supervising a learner driver; (c) a person who the constable reasonably believes: (i) was the driver of a motor vehicle when an accident occurred owing to its presence on a road, or (ii) has committed an offence regarding the use of a motor vehicle on a road.
Failure to produce a document listed above is an offence, but there cannot be a conviction if the documents are produced at a police station, specified by the driver, within five days.
Seizing documents Where any document is produced to a constable under any legal requirement of the 1972 Traffic Act (except records to be carried on a goods vehicle, which are covered by the next paragraph), and the constable has reasonable cause to believe that one of the offences of forgery, false statement and false documents, against Sections 169,170 or 171, of the Act has been committed, he may seize the document.
Similarly if a constable believes any of the following documents carried on a vehicle is one in relation to which one the offences listed in the previous.paragraph is committed he may seize it. Thi documents are: (a) any document evidencim appointment as an examiner o other officer having powers under the Act relating to vehicles; (b) any test or plating certificate of approval or of conformity; Cc) any plate bearing particulars required to be marked on a goods vehicle; (d) any records required to b kept by an operator relating to inspection of his goods vehicle (e) international road haulag permits.
The power to seize includes power to detach them from a vehicle.
The person from whom the documents are taken, unless th documents are previously returned, or he has been charged with the offence, must be summoned before a magistrates' court to account ft their possession. The court can make an order as to the disposi of the documents and award costs,