17.—(1) Section 12 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961, is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (4):

“(4A) Where a person contravenes subsection (3)(b) of this section and the load or loads were consigned to such person by one consignor alone, that consignor shall be guilty of an offence.

(4B) In a prosecution under subsection (4A) of this section it shall be a good defence for the consignor to prove—

(a) that it was not practicable for the consignor to estimate the laden weight of the vehicle or combination of vehicles, or

(b) that an estimate of the laden weight of the vehicle or combination of vehicles carried out by the consignor prior to the dispatch of the goods indicated that the weight of the vehicle or combination of vehicles did not exceed the maximum weight laden specified by a regulation under this section applying in relation to the vehicle or combination of vehicles.

(4C) In this section ‘consignor’ means a person who engages the services of another person for the carriage by road of merchandise in a vehicle or combination of vehicles.”.

(2) Section 16 of the Road Traffic Act, 1961, is hereby amended by the substitution of “25 kilometres” for “five miles” in both subsections (1)(b)(i) and (2)(c)(i).