Section 18: Speed assessment equipment detection devices
62.Section 18 amends section 41 of the RTA. Section 41(1) of the RTA is an enabling provision empowering the Secretary of State to "make regulations generally as to the use of motor vehicles and trailers on roads, their construction and equipment and the conditions under which they may be so used". The amendment means that it will be possible to prohibit a vehicle being fitted with, or a person using a vehicle carrying "speed assessment equipment detection devices" by means of regulations under section 41 of the RTA. The amendment defines a "speed assessment equipment detection device" as "a device, the purpose, or one of the purposes, of which is to detect, or interfere with the operation of equipment used to assess the speed of motor vehicles". The precise subset of the devices which will be prohibited will be identified in the regulations made under section 41 of the RTA but it is not intended to include in the prohibition those devices that only contain information about published camera site locations.
63.A person who breaches a speed assessment equipment detection device requirement shall be guilty of an offence and liable to the same penalty as if they had been convicted of exceeding a prescribed speed limit, which means that the financial penalties will be higher if the offence is committed on a special road.
