Road Traffic Act · 2026 Revised Edition · Part · Driving and Other Offences and General Conditions Relating to Use of Motor Vehicles on Road
30. Warning to be given before prosecution
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
Where a person is prosecuted for an offence under section 24, 28
person
“person” shall have the meaning assigned to it by the Interpretation and General Clauses Act;
or 29, he shall not, except as hereinafter prescribed, be convicted unless —
he was warned at the time the offence was committed or within 24 hours thereafter that the question of prosecuting him for an offence under one or other of those sections would be taken into consideration;
within 14 days of the commission of the offence a summons for the offence was served on him; or
within that 14 days a notice of the intended prosecution specifying the nature of the alleged offence and the time and place where it is alleged to have been committed was served on or sent by registered post to him or to the person registered as the owner of the vehicle at the time of the commission of the offence:
Provided that failure to comply with this requirement shall not be a bar to the conviction of the accused in any case where the court is satisfied that —
neither the name and address of the accused nor the name and address of the registered owner of the vehicle could with reasonable diligence have been ascertained in time for a summons to be served or sent as aforesaid;
or
the accused by his own conduct contributed to the failure.
Road Traffic 38
Notwithstanding subsection (1), an accused person in whose case the requirements of this section have been satisfied or do not apply, as respects an alleged offence under section 28, may be convicted of an offence under section 29.
The requirements of this section shall in every case be deemed to have been complied with unless and until the contrary is proved.
This section does not apply in any case in which the person prosecuted was, in connection with the incident in respect of which a charge against him is preferred, arrested either on the day on which the incident occurred or within 30 days of that date.
Terms defined in s 2
owner
Defined · s 2“owner” means the person in whose name a motor vehicle is registered by a licensing officer: Provided that in the case of a vehicle which is the subject of a hire-purchase agreement, the term means the person in possession of the vehicle under that agreement;
person
Defined · s 2“person” shall have the meaning assigned to it by the Interpretation and General Clauses Act;
road
Defined · s 2“road” means any highway and any other road to which the public has access, and includes bridges over which a road passes;
traffic
Defined · s 2“traffic” includes vehicles of every description, pedestrians, processions, and bodies of troops and all animals being ridden, driven or led;
vehicle
Defined · s 2“vehicle” means any vehicle, including a trailer, constructed, adapted or capable of being used on roads, whether mechanically propelled or not.
Part
Suspension, Cancellation and Endorsement of Driving Licences
Part
Public Service Vehicles and Franchises
Part
Certificates of Fitness
Part
Traffic on Roads
Part
Powers of Police
Part