Land Transport Act 1998
Introduction
1. The Land Transport Act, 1998 and seven separate sets of supporting regulations came into force in July 2000. You should specifically familiarise yourself with it if you operate in the general areas of:
• transport (including providing transport facilities as part of your business, including company vehicles)
• insurance
• financing
• motor vehicle sales
2. The legislation repeals and replaces the Traffic Act, and makes wide-ranging changes to the law relating to the -
• administration of traffic laws
• registration of vehicles
• registration of financial interests in motor vehicles
• licensing of motor-vehicle dealers
• licensing of drivers
• licensing of public-service vehicles
• use of motor vehicles of various descriptions
• use of public streets
• traffic offences and enforcement
The features of the new legislation which are likely to be of general interest are summarised below.
Administration
3. The Act creates a new Land Transport Authority, a statutory corporation, with the principal responsibility for enforcing the Act. It replaces the former Department of Road Transport. The police and local councils however, continue, to have enforcement roles.
4. There is also provision for a new Land Transport Appeals Tribunal to hear appeals from the Authority's decisions on the licensing of drivers and public-service vehicle licensing.
Motor Vehicle Registration
5. Except for two narrow categories, all vehicles that are propelled by an engine must now be registered with the Authority, even if they are used exclusively on private property. The Authority may now require vehicle such as tractors, trailers, buggies and jimneys to be registered. As a third-party insurance policy is a pre-requisite to registration, there may be new financial implications for those who own or intend to purchase vehicles of a kind that were not previously required to be registered.
Registration of Financial Interests
6. A major innovation is that a vehicle-owner is now required to give details of all parties with a financial interest in the vehicle and of all changes in financial interests. This information is to be shown on the vehicle's registration certificate and may be searched by interested parties in the register kept by the Authority. The Regulations also require that an application for a change in the registered ownership of a vehicle must include the authorisation of anyone who has a registered financial interest in the vehicle.
7. The new system gives a person who lends money on the security of a vehicle a way of notifying the world of its interest in the vehicle and preventing an unauthorised transfer.
8. But the Act does not replace the existing bills of sale and hire purchase laws nor does it make registration a pre-requisite to the enforcement of a security over a vehicle. Caveat emptor (buyer beware) will still apply to those who intend to purchase a used vehicle. A search of the register, although beneficial, is not conclusive, and a purchaser may have his or her title defeated by a prior unregistered claimant.
9. The procedures for the transfer of the registration of re-possessed vehicles have been streamlined.
New Construction and Safety Standards
10. The legislation also prescribes new construction, safety, emission and design standards but allows for exemptions to be made. While standard passenger and goods vehicles are likely to conform with the new standards, owners of specialised or heavy vehicles should make necessary inquiries.
Authorised Dealers
11. Under the new legislation, anyone other than an insurance company, hire-purchase provider or owner-user who sells a vehicle by auction or tender or deals in vehicles now requires a dealer's licence. Various new rules, including the extension of warranties, apply to dealers. Businesses that sell vehicles by tender or auction (including financial institutions that are not hire purchase providers) or that sell vehicles that were not purchased for their own use should also take appropriate action.
Licensing of Drivers
12. In addition to the traditional penalties of fines and imprisonment the new Act provides for a new de-merit point system for those convicted of traffic offences. A driver who is awarded nine (9) or more de-merit points within three (3) years becomes automatically disqualified from holding a driver's licence for six (6) months.
13. The Courts also have power to disqualify a driver after any second or subsequent offence even if disqualification is not the prescribed penalty and regardless of the de-merit points awarded against the driver.