Clean sweeps are a 'must'
Page 60
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REGULATION 25 of the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1973 lays down that all motor vehicles which have windscreens must be fined with one or more efficient automatic windscreen wipers.
Wipers are not required if the driver can obtain an adequate view to the front of the vehicle without looking through the windscreen say by opening the screen or looking over it.
Wipers must be capable of clearing the windscreen so that the driver has an adequate view in front of the near and off-side as well as a view to the front
This necessitates at least two wipers to sweep sufficient area of the screen for the regulation to be complied with.
Vehicles required by the regulations to be fitted with windscreen wipers are also required by Regulation 26, to have windscreen washers capable of cleaning, in conjunction with the wipers, that area of the screen which is swept by the wipers of mud or other similar deposit.
Regulation 95 requires that all windscreen wipers be maintained in good and efficient working order and properly adjusted. There is no similar requirement for windscreen washers.
Regulation 27 deals with horns, and states that all motor vehicles must be fitted with "an instrument capable of giving audible warning of its approach or position.'" On vehicles first used after August 1, 1973 the sound emitted from the horn must be "continuous and not strident.
Horns which play "Colonel Bogie" or some other tune are illegal on vehicles of this age. There is no definition in the regulations of "strident" and one can only assume that the ordinary dictionary meaning of
the word applies. The dictionary meaning is given as -harsh in tone, grating or jarring".
Only emergency vehicles may be fitted with a gong, bell, siren or two-toned horn. The vehicles are listed as those used for the following purposes or by the following bodies.— fire brigade, ambulance, police, fire salvage, bomb disposal, blood transfusion service, HM Coastguard, rescue operations at mines, motor vehicles owned by the Secretary of State for Defence and used by RAF, Mountain Rescue service for the purpose of rescue operations in connection with an emergency.
A vehicle used for the conveyance of goods for sale from the vehicle may be fitted with an instrument, other than a two-toned horn, for informing members of the public that the goods are for sale.
Chimes on ice cream vans fall within this category but there is nothing to say that chimes are the only form of noise which may be used.
Regulation 110 deals with the use of "audible warning instruments" and states that they must not be sounded at ,any time when .a vehicle is, stationary on a road or on a moving vehicle in a built-up area between 23.30 hours and 07.00 hours.
There are exceptions to this rule, for a horn may be sounded legally at times of danger to another moving vehicle on or near the road, when it is necessary to raise the alarm as to the theft of the vehicle or its contents. Alternatively, if the vehicle is a public service vehicle and the horn is sounded for the purpose of summoning assistance for the driver, the conductor or an inspector. These exceptions apply whatever the time of day or night and irrespective of whether the vehicle is stationary or moving.
Regulation 28 of the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1973 requires that all vehicles fitted with an internal combustion engine must be provided with a silencer, expansion chamber or other contrivance suitable and sufficient for reducing as far as may be reasonable the noise caused by the escape of the exhaust gases from the engine.
Regulation 98 makes it an offence to use or cause or permit to be used, a motor vehicle on which the exhaust gases do not pass through a silencer; or where a silencer is not maintained in good and efficient working order.
It is also an offence to alter a silencer so that the noise caused by the escape of the exhaust gases is made greater by the alteration.
Regulation 31 states that every motor vehicle must be so constructed so that no avoidable smoke or visible vapour is emitted.
Regulation 101 makes it an offence to use a vehicle from which is emitted any smoke, visible vapour, grit, sparks, ashes or cinders, or oily substance so that danger or injury is caused or is likely to be caused to persons, or damage is caused or likely to be caused to property.
The damage, injury or danger element, which must be present before the offence is complete, should be noted. Danger could be caused if the smoke from an exheilst was so dense that it obstructed the view of drivers of overtaking traffic.
Damage could be caused if the smoke from an exhaust stained a woman's dress. in Tidswell v Llewellyn (1965) L.R. 732, oil gushed from the hydraulic ram of the tipping mechanism of a lorry while on private premises; later the oil dripped from the chassis and under parts of the lorry onto the road. It was held that there was an "emission" which continued while the lorry was used on the road.
Any device fitted to a compression ignition engine to facilitate starting by providing excess fuel to the engine, which causes an increase in smoke or visible vapour, must have its control so positioned that it cannot be readily operated by a person who is on the vehicle.
The requirement does not apply if, once the engine has started, the device does not supply the engine with excess fuel. (Regulation 32..)
All motor vehicles first used after April 1, 1973, and not manufactured before October 1, 1972, propelled by a compression ignition engine must have an engine of a type for which a certificate has been issued, indicating that it complies with the requirements of the British Standard Specification for the performance of Diesel Engines for Road Vehicles No — BSAU 141a 1971.
This means that the engine does not exceed the limits of exhaust gas capacity laid down in the Specification. (Regulation 34.) This regulation does not apply to land tractors, land locomotives, industrial tractors, works trucks or engineering plant propelled by compression ignition engines having not more than two cylinders. Neither does it apply to vehicles manufactured before April 1, 1973 propelled by a Perkins 6.354 engine.
A vehicle first used on or after February 2, 1974 which has a Certificate of Conformity showing that it is equipped with an engine which complies with the requirements of EEC Directive 72/306/EEC, is exempt from the requirements of Regulation 34.
All motor vehicles first used On or after July 1, 1972 propelled by a spark ignition engine must be designed so that, while the engine is running, any vapours or gases in the engine crankcase are prevented, as far as is reasonably practicable, from escaping into the atmosphere otherwise than through the combustion chamber of the engine.