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Land Transport Act 1998

Enforcement of responsibilities - General enforcement powers

116: Enforcement of directions

You could also call this:

“Police can arrest you if you don't follow their directions about using vehicles”

You need to know about how the law is enforced when someone doesn’t follow directions. If you don’t do what you’re told by an enforcement officer, they can arrest you without needing a warrant. This applies if you ignore directions given under sections 98E, 113, or 115 of the Land Transport Act.

There’s also a rule about prohibitions under section 115(3). If you’re charged with breaking one of these prohibitions, you won’t be found guilty unless the court thinks the enforcement officer had good reasons to believe the prohibition was needed to keep people safe. This could be for the safety of the driver, the person in charge of the vehicle, or anyone else, including the public.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM435110.

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Part 9 Enforcement of responsibilities
General enforcement powers

116Enforcement of directions

  1. An enforcement officer may arrest without warrant a person whom the officer has good cause to suspect has failed to comply with a direction given under section 98E, 113, or 115.

  2. A person charged with an offence of contravening a prohibition imposed under section 115(3) does not commit an offence unless the court is satisfied that the enforcement officer had reasonable grounds for believing that in all the circumstances the prohibition was necessary in the interests of the safety of the driver or person in charge of the vehicle or of any other person or of the public.

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Notes
  • Section 116(1): amended, on , by section 5 of the Land Transport (Wheel Clamping) Amendment Act 2019 (2019 No 70).