Written answers

Wednesday, 29 March 2006

Department of Transport

Road Traffic Regulations

11:00 pm

Photo of Aengus Ó SnodaighAengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 207: To ask the Minister for Transport if it is a legal requirement for drivers of foreign commercial vehicles to carry test and insurance certificates while operating here; the steps which are taken to inform companies or drivers of that requirement; and if it is normal practice for a truck driver for a UK based company to be detained at the side of the road until the test and insurance certificates are faxed to gardaí. [12335/06]

Photo of Martin CullenMartin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Under EU Directive 96/96/EC, motor vehicles are liable to periodic compulsory roadworthiness testing in the country in which they are registered. In the case of goods vehicles, testing is required when they are one year old and every year thereafter. Member states are required to ensure that vehicles passing such tests are issued with proof to that effect. It is not a requirement of Irish law for lorry drivers to have the certificate of roadworthiness of their vehicle in their possession but they may be required to produce such certificate to the Garda Síochána within ten days, if requested.

EU and Irish law require all vehicles being driven in a public place to be insured for third-party liability. All vehicles registered in the State must display an insurance disc. Section 69 of the Road Traffic Act 1961 permits a member of the Garda Síochána, who believes or has observed that a mechanically propelled vehicle was used in a public place, to demand production of a certificate of motor insurance for up to one month after the occasion.

Section 69A of the Road Traffic Act 1961, as inserted by SI 178 of 1975, permits the Garda Síochána to detain a vehicle originating in a country outside certain designated territories, where the driver cannot produce evidence of motor insurance on demand. The designated territories include all the member states of the European Union, other than the State, and Croatia, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Andorra. I cannot give the Deputy any information on operational practices within the Garda Síochána.

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