united-kingdom traffic diplomatic-immunity us-president
Did the US presidential motorcade contravene UK traffic regulations?
<p>Recently, US President Joe Biden attended the G7 summit in the UK. Various videos (e.g. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e9VZQBHoK4" rel="noreferrer">here</a>) show his motorcade. As might be expected, many of the vehicles are fitted with (and using) the red and blue emergency lights that are standard in the US.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1989/1796/regulation/11" rel="noreferrer">Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations (1989)</a>, section 11(1), stipulates that &quot;No vehicle shall be fitted with a lamp which is capable of showing a red light to the front, except [cases that are not relevant here]&quot;. It would seem clear that the president's vehicles are contravening this.</p>
<p>Did the UK government take any action ahead of the visit (e.g. special regulations) to authorise this use? Alternatively, do principles of diplomatic immunity enable the president to disregard such regulations? Or is there simply a pragmatic decision to ignore the issue?</p>
<p>Put another way: if an overly-keen traffic cop tried to take enforcement action here, how would it end?</p>

<p>No they didn't break any British traffic regulations. As can be seen in the video, the road is closed to regular traffic. This is done by British police motorcycles according to British traffic laws. On this temporarily closed road regular traffic regulations no longer apply. Bidens motorcade can use whatever light they feel like.</p>
<p>This is the same principle that happens in say a political demonstration. Police block the road for regular traffic. Afterwards trucks with all kinds of decorations are allowed to drive inside a crowd of walking people. This would not be legal according to British traffic regulations but it is fine in this situation because the road is blocked for regular traffic.</p>

<p>The <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1964/81" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964</a>, which brings the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations into UK law, provides an immunity from criminal jurisdiction for diplomatic agents (treaty article 31) and for their staff (article 37). This should be enough to exempt the motorcade drivers, assuming that they are part of the entourage that Biden brought with him. (If some of them happened to be regular UK citizens then article 38(2) gives a weaker immunity, as it binds the host government to not &quot;interfere unduly with the performance of the functions of the mission&quot;, but I think this is not the case here.)</p>
<p>However, in terms of the road traffic laws alone, the motorcade is moving under the direction of the UK police. Under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/35" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Road Traffic Act 1988, section 35</a>, they have a general power to tell vehicles where to go, which is not conditional on those vehicles meeting any particular regulatory standard. Indeed, part of the point of this section is to allow the police to direct somebody who's <em>not</em> in compliance - for example, if you have a broken headlight, and are told to proceed carefully to a garage to repair it. Likewise, the police can direct you to go the wrong way down a one-way street, go through a red light, etc., and since you have to comply with their instruction, you have a defence to what would otherwise be a violation. These powers are routinely exercised and are well understood in the courts.</p>
<p>So the police could lawfully escort a non-diplomatic procession of red-light-bearing vehicles down the street, if they chose. (And they have discretion about whether and how to enforce particular traffic laws, so they don't <em>have</em> to arrest somebody driving a non-compliant vehicle.)</p>

<p>according to Geneva Convention on Road Traffic 1949 (the last treaty between the 2 relevant countries)</p>
<p>The vehicle must meet all technical requirements to be legal for road use in the country of registration. Any conflicting technical requirements (e.g., right-hand-drive or left-hand-drive) in the signatory country where the vehicle is being driven do not apply.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Convention_on_Road_Traffic" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Convention_on_Road_Traffic</a></p>
