§ 72. Sir Charles Cayzerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the fact that motorists have recently been fined £5 and had their licences endorsed by magistrates for proceeding across road junctions on the amber light; and whether, in view of the directions of the highway code that amber means stop at the line unless the amber signal appears when the motorist has already passed the stop line, or is so close to it that to pull up might cause an accident, he proposes to circularise boards of magistrates so that further fines of this nature should not be imposed?
§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Geoffrey Lloyd)The significance of the amber light shown alone is governed by Regulations made by the Minister of Transport on 22nd December, 1933, and it is there defined as prohibiting vehicular traffic to proceed 1195 beyond the stop line except in the case of any vehicle which when the signal first appears is so close to the said line that it cannot safely be stopped before passing the line. These Regulations were circulated to all courts of summary jurisdiction, and are reproduced in text-books, and there would not appear to be any sufficient reason to draw special attention to them again. It is for the court to decide in any particular case whether an offence is proved and, if so, what penalty should be imposed, and my right hon. Friend has no authority to issue instructions to magistrates in the matter.