Contents

Objective of the Rule

Extent of consultation

Section 1     Application

• 1.1     Title
• 1.2     Date when Rule comes into force

Section 2     Amendments relating to side-marker lamps

• 2.1     Fitting and performance requirements for side-marker lamps

 

Objective of the Rule

Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Lighting Amendment 2005 amends Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Lighting 2004, which sets out standards and safety requirements for lighting that is fitted to a vehicle.

The objective of this amendment Rule is to allow a wider range of heavy vehicles (ie, vehicles with a gross vehicle mass of more than 3500 kg, including buses and trucks) to be fitted with side-marker lamps than is permitted under the 2004 Rule. That Rule replaced regulations requiring side-marker lamps to be fitted on heavy vehicles, but only on heavy trailers and articulated heavy vehicles (ie, truck-trailer combinations) longer than 9.2 metres. It was intended to change this to allow other heavy vehicles to be fitted with side-marker lamps, but the relevant provision was inadvertently omitted from the Rule, although it is reflected in Table 7.1 of the Rule. This amendment Rule rectifies the omission.

 

Extent of consultation

For the purposes of consultation, a number of amendments proposed to Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Lighting 2004 and 12 other Land Transport Rules were combined into a single draft Rule, Land Transport Rule: Omnibus Amendment 2005 (the Omnibus Amendment Rule). The changes proposed were intended mainly to convert remaining provisions in the Traffic Regulations 1976 to Rules, to update vehicle standards, to delete redundant provisions and clarify provisions and to correct some errors in Rules.

On 1 April 2005, Land Transport New Zealand (Land Transport NZ) sent a letter containing the Rule amendment proposals to about 2200 groups and individuals who had registered an interest in the Rules to be amended, and sought submissions on the proposed changes. The draft Omnibus Amendment Rule was made available through the Land Transport NZ Help Desk and was available together with Questions and Answers on the Land Transport NZ website. The availability of the draft was publicised in five metropolitan daily newspapers, Te Karere National News and the New Zealand Gazette. Land Transport NZ received 33 submissions on the draft Omnibus Amendment Rule, of which five commented on the proposed amendment to the side-marker lamp requirements.

Following consultation, the provisions in the draft Omnibus Amendment Rule were split into separate amendment Rules, including this Rule. The submissions that were received were taken into account in drafting the amendment Rules before the Rules were submitted to the Minister for Transport Safety for signing.

 

Section 1     Application

1.1     Title

1.1(1)     This Rule is Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Lighting Amendment 2005.

1.1(2)     In this Rule, Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Lighting 2004 is called 'the principal Rule'.

 

1.2     Date when Rule comes into force

This Rule comes into force on 15 September 2005.

 

Section 2     Amendments relating to side-marker lamps

2.1     Fitting and performance requirements for side-marker lamps

Clause 7.5 of the principal Rule is amended by revoking subclauses (3) and (4), and substituting the following subclauses:

"7.5(3) All other heavy motor vehicles may be fitted with one or more side-marker lamps.

"7.5(4) The light emitted by a side-marker lamp must be visible:

"(a) from a distance of 100 m in daylight and from a distance of 200 m during the hours of darkness; and

"(b) within an angle of 60 degrees above and below a horizontal plane passing through the lamp, and within an angle of 60 degrees forward and rearward of a vertical plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal centre-line of the vehicle and passing through the lamp.

"7.5(5) A light motor vehicle must not be fitted with a side-marker lamp."