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BRAKES ON TRAILERS.

1st May 1928, Page 59
1st May 1928
Page 59
Page 60
Page 59, 1st May 1928 — BRAKES ON TRAILERS.
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A Judicial Ruling Upon an Equipment which Complied with the Letter But Not the Spirit of the Law.

AN important ruling has been recently given by the High Court with regard to the braking of trailers in Robinsons, Ltd., v. Richards (1928, W.N. 110).

The Material Order which deals with the requirements as to brakes in the ease of a tractor and trailer is the Motor Cars (Use and Construction) Order, 1904, and paragraphs (2) and (3) of Article XVI of that Order provide that "(2) every article exceeding 2 cwt. in weight unladen, drawn by a motorcar, shall have a brake in good working order of such efficiency that its application to the vehicle shall cause two of the wheels of the vehicle on the sanie axle to be so held that the wheels shall he effectually prevented from revolving, or shall have the same effect in stopping the vehicle as if such wheels were so held, (3) The vehicle drawn by a motorcar shall, when in pursuance of the condition (above-mentioned) a brake is required to be attached thereto, carry upon the vehicle a person competent to apply efficiently the brake. Provided that it shall not be necessary to comply with this condition if the brakes upon the motorcar by which the vehicle is drawn are so constructed and arranged that neither of such brakes can be used without bringing into action simultaneously the brake attached to the vehicle drawn, or if the brake of the vehicle drawn can be applied from the motorcar by a person upon the motorcar independently of the brake of the latter."

Before proceeding farther, it may be as well to analyse the above regulations and to explain their effect.

The first regulation provides that if a trailer exceeds 2 cwt. in weight unladen, the trailer itself must have brakes on two of its wheels on the same axle, i.e., therefore either front or rear brakes. The second regulation, however, is not quite so clear, but its effect appears to be somewhat as follows: In every case in which a trailer is required to have brakes of its own, a person must ride on the trailer itself so as to apply the brakes of the trailer. To this requirement (i.e., as to a person riding on the trailer for the purpose of applying the brakes of the trailer) there are two exceptions, viz. (a) where the brakes of the tractor are so constructed that the operation of either brake (on the tractor) brings into operation simultaneously the brakes on the trailer. In other words, every braking operation on the tractor must have the effect of simultaneously applying and bringing into operation the brakes of the trailer as well, or (b) where the brake of the trailer can be applied by a person on the tractor independently of the brakes of the tractor Itself; in other words, therefore, where there is a separate and independent brake operating on the trailer, which can be applied from the tractor.

Now the material facts in Robinsons v. Richards were as follow: In that case a trailer was being drawn by a tractor, the only person on the vehicles being the driver of the tractor. The trailer was fitted with a brake, being over 2 cwt. in weight unladen. The tractor was fitted with two independent brakes, but neither of these brakes was connected in any way with the brake of the trailer. The trailer brake was so arranged that it could be operated independently of the brakes of the tractor, from the driving seat of the tractor by means of a special handle placed near to that side of the steering wheel which was opposite to the side from which the lever of the hand brake was operated, there being therefore a hand-operated brake lever on each side of the steering wheel, one for the tractor and the other for the trailer. It was, therefore, not possible for the driver of the tractor to apply the trailer brake simultaneously with the hand brake, as distinct from the foot brake of the tractor, without taking both his hands off the steering wheel. A separate operation was therefore necessary for applying or releasing the trailer brake, before or after the hand brake of the tractor, if control of the steering wheel was to • be retained throughout by the driver.

The view taken by the High Court was that the second of the exemptions (above-mentioned) from

the requirement of the presence of a person on the trailer itself did not go so far as to permit the driving of the tractor in such a way that control of the steering wheel had to be abandoned, if it was desirous or necessary at any time for the driver to apply simultaneously both brakes of the tractor as well as the brake of the trailer.

This difficulty, however, might be surmounted if the lever of the trailer brake was placed on the same side of the steering wheel as the hand brake of the tractor, and sufficiently close thereto as to enable both brakes to be operated simultaneously with one hand, but, in view of a further ruling by the magistrate, on which no opinion was expressed by the High Court, it may be that even this will not satisfy the Order. The ruling in question was to the effect that in every case in which there was an independent trailer brake on the tractor a separate person other than the driver had to be carried on the tractor for the purpose of operating this brake and that the only case in which the trailer brake might be operated by the driver was where this Vtake was• mechanically interconnected with each of the tractor brakes, so that the application of either of the latter would automatically bring into operation at the same time the trailer brake as well.

In view of the extreme importance of this decision, both manufacturers as well as the owners and users of tractors and trailers should make a careful note of its effect, as has been indicated above.

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Organisations: High Court

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