Odger's English Common Law

HIGHWAY OFFENCES. 253
is liable to a penalty. 1 A person riding a bicycle on a highway at such a
pace as to be dangerous to passers-by may be convicted of furiously driving
under this section. 2
The owner of any horse, mare, gelding, bull, ox, cow, heifer, steer, calf,
mule, ass, sheep, lamb, goat, kid or swine found straying or lying about a
highway, or the sides (except such parts of it as pass over common waste or
unenclosed ground), is liable to a penalty not exceeding 5s. for every
animal, up to 30s., recoverable summarily with the expenses of removal. 3
Any person who encroaches by making or causing to be made any building
or pit, or hedge, ditch or other fence, or by placing any dung, compost or
other materials for dressing land, or any rubbish, on the side or sides of any
carriage-way or cartway, within fifteen feet of the centre thereof, will be
liable on conviction for every such offence to pay a fine not exceeding 40s.,
in addition to the costs of removing the obstruction. 4 Proceedings under
this section must be taken within six months from the completion of the
obstruction, otherwise the remedy will have to be by indictment.
Every person who rides a bicycle or tricycle more than an hour after
sunset without carrying a lighted lamp is liable on summary conviction for
each and every such offence to a fine not exceeding 40s. 5 But though this
Act expressly declares bicycles and tricycles to be " carriages " within the
meaning of the Highway Acts, it contains no provision enabling a
constable to arrest an offender without warrant ; nor does it incorporate
section 78 of the Highway Act, 1835. Hence there is no power to arrest
a bicyclist, who is travelling at night without a lighted lamp and who refuses
to stop when called on by a constable to do so."
Provision has been made by various Acts of Parliament
for the regulation of traffic on highways with the object of
ensuring the safety of the public and of preventing unfair
wear and tear of the highway. Chief among these Acts are
the Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896 (59 & 60 Vict,
c. 36) ; the Locomotives Act, 1898 (61 & 62 Vict. c. 29) ;
7
and
the Motor Car Act, 1903 (3 Edw. VII. c. 36), which is
annually continued by the Expiring Laws Continuance Act.
These statutes and the orders made under them by the Local
Government Board provide for the registration of motor cars,
the licensing of drivers, and generally regulate the use and
construction, as well as the speed, of motor cars. The
1 Highway Act, 1835 (5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 50), s. 78.
2 Taylor v. Goodwin (1879), 4 Q. B. D. 228.
8 Highway Act, 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. 101), s. 25 ; and see Golding v. Stocking
(1869), L. R. 4 Q. B. 516, and Bothamley v. Danby (1871), 24 L. T. 656.
« Highway Act, 1864, s. 51.
" Local Government Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41), s. 85.
e Button v. Treeby, [\m\ 2 Q. B. 452.
7 As to the emission of sparks, see the Railway Fires Act, 1905 (5 Edw. VII. c. 11).