§ Mr. MolsonI beg to move, in page 5, line 45, at the end to insert:
or in such a condition, as respects lighting equipment or reflectors or the maintenance thereof, that it is not capable of being used on a road during the hours of darkness without contravention of the requirements imposed by law as to obligatory lamps or reflectors".The Amendment is drafted to give effect to a promise which I made in Standing Committee. The hon. Member for Enfield, East (Mr. Ernest Davies) moved an Amendment dealing with lighting and reflectors, and I indicated in the Committee that we accepted its principle but we thought that it would be necessary to make certain changes in its wording. In return for that assurance on my part, the hon. Member was good enough to withdraw his Amendment.The effect of this Amendment is to make it an offence, subject to the qualification to be added by the next Amendment, to sell or offer for sale any motor vehicle or trailer the use of which during the hours of darkness would be illegal because of the requirements of the law as to obligatory lamps or reflectors. 533 Illegal use might arise, for instance, because the vehicle lacked such lamp or reflectors altogether; because the front obligatory lamps of the vehicle did not show a white light visible from a reasonable distance in accordance with the Road Transport Lighting Acts; because the rear obligatory lamps of the vehicle did not show a red light visible from a reasonable distance in accordance with the lighting Acts or a red light of sufficient power in accordance with the lighting regulations; or the obligatory lamps or reflectors did not comply as to number, position and so on with the relevant lighting regulations.
I indicated that the broad wording of the Amendment proposed by the hon. Member for Enfield, East might go further than I thought he intended. This Amendment is an improvement upon Clause 6 (2) in several respects. It excludes from the application of the Clause a number of lighting defects which are unlikely materially to affect road safety, for example, height limitation and wattage markings on bulbs for headlamps and spotlamps, compliance with conditions prescribed for reversing lights and parking lamps, and so on. It makes it clear that rear reflectors are within its scope, and it correctly mentions "during the hours of darkness" as the period when alone it would be an offence to use a vehicle with defective lights or reflectors. I hope therefore that with that explanation the House will be disposed to accept the Amendment.
§ Mr. Ernest DaviesAll I want to do is to thank the Joint Parliamentary Secretary for the Amendment, which meets the case that I had in mind when I moved my Amendment in Standing Committee. We were concerned with the sale of second-hand vehicles to which the Clause would apply and, for some unknown reason, the Government, in drafting the original Bill, missed out any reference whatsoever to lighting. They were concerned only with brakes, steering gear and tyres, but it seemed to us, in view of the number of accidents on the roads due to bad lighting, that it was essential that this provision should be included. The Amendment meets the point that we made in Committee and we gratefully support it.
Amendment agreed to.
§ Mr. MolsonI beg to move, in page 6, line 1, to leave out subsection (2) and to insert:
(2) At the end of subsection (4) of the said section eight (which affords a defence in proceedings for an offence under that section) there shall be added the following words "or, in the case of a vehicle or trailer the sale, supply or offer of which is alleged to be unlawful by reason of its condition as respects lighting equipment or reflectors or the maintenance thereof, would not be so used during the hours of darkness until it had been put into a condition in which it might be so used during those hours without contravention of the requirements imposed by law as to obligatory lamps or reflectors".The proposed deletion of subsection (2) is consequential on the insertion in subsection (1) of the words of the Amendment to page 5, line 45.Amendment agreed to.
Further Amendment made: In page 6, line 7. leave out "subsection" and insert "subsections".—[Mr. Molson.]
§ Mr. MolsonI beg to move, in page 6, line 10, at the end to add:
(6) In this section "obligatory lamps or reflectors" means, in relation to a motor vehicle or trailer, the lamps or reflectors required by law to be carried thereon while it is on a road during the hours of darkness and when it is neither drawing nor being drawn by another vehicle, except that the said expression does not, in the case of a trailer, include lamps showing a white light to the front".This Amendment defines the term "obligatory lamps or reflectors" to which the preceding Amendment refers and applies.Amendment agreed to.