Revised Rules of the Road to be published

Revised Rules of the Road are to be published on the Department of Transport's website by the end of the week, the Department has confirmed.

The revised rules, which are still in draft form, have been produced to reflect changes in Irish motoring circumstances in the 11 years since the last Rules of the Road was published.

The updated version will contain details of the new metric speed limits, penalty points and on-the-spot fines, as well as providing information and guidance on the use of motorways and bus lanes. The latter items would not have been as prevalent in June 1995, when the rules were last updated by the then environment minister, Brendan Howlin.

The new draft rules also state that all candidates taking the driving test are now expected to be familiar with basic technical checks that would be required on the type of vehicle they are using for their test.

They will be displayed on the website for a number of weeks to give motoring organisations and ordinary drivers a chance to comment. It is also expected that they will be published in a variety of European languages.

The move follows criticism from Opposition politicians that a number of major changes over the last decade had effectively meant that in many cases the booklet was negligent or plainly wrong. In particular the old booklet would not contain the changes and speed limits that came into force in January 2005.

Relevant bodies, such as the National Roads Authority and the Department of the Environment, had input into the new draft, and others such as the National Safety Council, the AA and the Irish Road Hauliers Association are expected to make submissions.

The Irish Road Hauliers Association has already taken issue with the stipulation that lorries may not use the right-hand lane on motorways. Previously, on major roads which were designated dual carriageway lorries were allowed to pass. Now, however, as the National Roads Authority is seeking to have legislation introduced to redesignate existing dual carriageways as motorways, and given the spread of the State's motorway network, it has become an issue for the hauliers.

AA spokesman Conor Faughnan also said his organisation was looking forward to seeing the new draft. Mr Faughnan described the motorways as being "very much new to Ireland". He said the situation that the penalty points were not included in the current rules of the road publications was "somewhat farcical" and the AA was looking forward to making a submission.

The consultation period on the draft rules will take four weeks and the booklet is to be published in the autumn.