Clause 69 - Contraventions subject to civil enforcement
Traffic Management Bill
2:30 pm
Mr David Wilshire (Spelthorne, Conservative)
I shall speak about part 4 of schedule 7 and the splendid little aide-mémoire that the Minister gave us.
I raise my first point because I started life as a printer. I draw the Minister's attention to the references to ''Motor vehicles prohibited'', which have a diagram reference of 619, and
''Motor vehicles except solo motor cycles prohibited'',
which have a diagram reference of 619.1. I was brought up as a printer to understand that there was a significance in colours being different. One sign has a pale red circle, which I do not recognise, and if the diagrams are being presented as definitive parts of legislation, and will be printed in colour, that colour should be correct. It strikes me that it is not.
My more substantial point refers to ''Box junction markings'', which has a diagram reference of 1043, 1044. The point was made in an earlier debate about using cameras to prove that someone is in a box junction. That is correct up to a point, but brings us back to the issue of reasonable excuse, which we discussed this morning so I will not repeat it. In essence, the issue is similar to one in which I was involved about variable speed limits on the M25. I dealt with the part of the M25 that was in my constituency. Drivers were passing under a gantry where the sign showed that the variable speed limit was 50 mph, but when they came out the other side and activated the cameras, the speed limit had changed to 40 mph. Technically, they were therefore speeding without having known that the speed limit had changed. It took some ingenuity on behalf of the then Government to find a way round the problem, but a solution was found.
The point made this morning about box junctions is that a photograph of somebody in one does not necessarily prove that the driver was at fault. There could have been a sensible space ahead when they moved into the box junction, but somebody or something could have conspired to ensure that the space was then blocked before they got out the other side. A single photograph could not demonstrate that. I am sure that the Minister would not want fixed
penalties, prosecutions or anything else in cases in which the only evidence was a single photograph that proved that what appeared at that moment to be an offence was being committed.