Land Transport (Speed Limits Validation and Other Matters) Act 2015

1: Title
This Act is the Land Transport (Speed Limits Validation and Other Matters) Act 2015.
2: Commencement
This Act comes into force on the date on which it receives the Royal assent.
1: Preliminary provisions
3: Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to—
a: remove any doubt about the validity of speed limits set by road controlling authorities (including the designation of areas as urban traffic areas in which roads are subject to speed limits); and
b: protect enforcement action taken under those bylaws; and
c: provide clear authority for the setting of speed limits by road controlling authorities in the future.
4: Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— local authority section 5(1) road controlling authority section 2(1) specified bylaw section 5 speed limit Speed Limit Rule 2003 urban traffic area
5: Meaning of specified bylaw
In this Act, specified bylaw
a: means a bylaw—
i: that was made or purportedly made by a road controlling authority during the period beginning on 5 April 2004 and ending on the day before the date of commencement of this Act (whether or not the bylaw was, immediately before the commencement of this Act, in force or purportedly in force); and
ii: that was so made or purportedly made under any 1 or more of the Government Roading Powers Act 1989 Local Government Act 1974 Local Government Act 2002 Land Transport Act 1998
iii: that sets a speed limit or designates an urban traffic area; but
b: does not include a bylaw that was so made or purportedly made by a road controlling authority under any other Act that sets a speed limit or designates an urban traffic area, regardless of whether the bylaw was also purportedly made under the Speed Limit Rule 2003.
2: Validations and related amendments
Specified bylaws
6: Validation of specified bylaws, etc
1: Every specified bylaw is declared to have been lawfully made and to be and always have been valid despite any 1 or more of the following circumstances applying to it:
a: the enactment or enactments under which the bylaw was made or purportedly made did not provide the statutory authority to make the bylaw:
b: the bylaw was made or amended using a process that did not comply with—
i: the enactment or enactments under which it was made or purportedly made; or
ii: any other applicable enactment:
c: as far as the bylaw was made or purportedly made under the Local Government Act 1974 Local Government Act 2002
i: was not reviewed by the relevant local authority as required under section 158 159
ii: has been revoked by the operation of section 160A
2: To avoid doubt, every speed limit set by a specified bylaw validated under subsection (1) and every designation of an urban traffic area is declared to be and to always have been lawfully set or designated.
3: No designation of an urban traffic area under section 10.1(1) of the Speed Limit Rule 2003 or speed limit referred to in section 10.1(2) of the Speed Limit Rule 2003 is invalid solely because it was not designated or validated in accordance with section 10.1(7) of that rule before 1 July 2009.
4: A specified bylaw to which subsection (1)﻿(c) applies must, despite section 160A
7: Specified bylaws to be treated as made under section 22AB of Land Transport Act 1998
1: Every specified bylaw (including a specified bylaw validated under section 6
a: under section 22AB
b: in compliance with sections 22AD 22AE
2: To avoid doubt, sections 158 to 160A Enforcement actions
8: Enforcement action taken under specified bylaw
To avoid doubt, an enforcement action taken before the commencement of this Act must not be treated as invalid only because, at the time the circumstances giving rise to the enforcement action occurred or the enforcement action was taken,—
a: in the case of a specified bylaw, 1 or more of the circumstances described in section 6(1)﻿(a) to (c)
b: in the case of a speed limit to which section 6(3)
9: Savings for certain legal proceedings
1: This Act does not limit any proceedings that expressly challenge the validity of an enforcement action on any of the grounds specified in subsection (2) if those proceedings were commenced, and contained any of those grounds, before the date on which the Land Transport (Speed Limits Validation and Other Matters) Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives.
2: The grounds are—
a: that any 1 or more of the circumstances described in section 6(1)﻿(a) to (c)
b: that an urban traffic area had not been designated or speed limit validated as described in section 6(3) Related amendments to Land Transport Act 1998
10: Amendments to Land Transport Act 1998
Sections 11 12 2015-07-22 Land Transport Act 1998 Sections 11 and 12 amend the Land Transport Act 1998.
11: Section 22AB amended (Road controlling authorities may make certain bylaws)
Replace section 22AB(1)﻿(d)
d: for the safety of the public or for the better preservation of any road,—
i: fixing the maximum speed of vehicles or of specified classes of vehicles on any road:
ii: designating any area, where that designation will have the effect of determining the speed limit in that area:
12: Section 22AD amended (Consultation)
Replace section 22AD(1)
1: Section 156 of the Local Government Act 2002 applies to a bylaw under section 22AB made by a road controlling authority that is a local authority as if that bylaw had been made under that Act.
1A: Section 9(4) and (5) of the Airport Authorities Act 1966 applies to any bylaw made under section 22AB by a local authority or an airport authority in respect of an airport operated by that local authority or airport authority.