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Section 11: Interpretation of sections 4 to 10

Road Traffic Act 1988 (1988 c. 52)

(1) The following provisions apply for the interpretation of sections 3A to 10 of this Act.

(2) In those sections—

. . .

“controlled drug” has the meaning given by section 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971,

“drug” includes any intoxicant other than alcohol,

“fail” includes refuse,

“hospital” means an institution which provides medical or surgical treatment for in-patients or out-patients,

“the prescribed limit” means, as the case may require—

35 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath,

80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, or

107 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of urine,

or such other proportion as may be prescribed by regulations ....

“registered health care professional” means a person (other than a medical practitioner) who is—

a registered nurse; or

a registered member of a health care profession which is designated for the purposes of this paragraph by an order made by the Secretary of State.

“specified”, in relation to a controlled drug, has the meaning given by section 5A(8)

(2ZA) Regulations under subsection (2) may be made—

(a) by the Secretary of State, in relation to driving or attempting to drive, or being in charge of a vehicle, in England and Wales;

(b) by the Scottish Ministers, in relation to driving or attempting to drive, or being in charge of a vehicle, in Scotland.

(2A) A health care profession is any profession mentioned in section 60(2) of the Health Act 1999 (c. 8) other than the profession of practising medicine and the profession of nursing.

(2B) An order under subsection (2) shall be made by statutory instrument; and any such statutory instrument shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(3) A person does not co-operate with a preliminary test or provide a specimen of breath for analysis unless his co-operation or the specimen—

(a) is sufficient to enable the test or the analysis to be carried out, and

(b) is provided in such a way as to enable the objective of the test or analysis to be satisfactorily achieved.

(4) A person provides a specimen of blood if and only if—

(a) he consents to the taking of such a specimen from him; and

(b) the specimen is taken from him ... either by a medical practitioner or by a registered health care professional.

Reproduced from legislation.gov.uk as captured on 2026-08-27. Statute is amended over time — check the source below for the version in force. This is a reference, not legal advice.
View s.11 on legislation.gov.uk

Where this section is applied on BlueLineHub

Officer reference cards that cite this provision.

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Source: legislation.gov.uk, Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0.