It's been two months now since the "new" rules in the Highway Code were released and things are starting to settle down a bit.
Initially, fuelled by a bit of misrepresentation in the press, some vulnerable road users went a little bit crazy and people who'd usually just a car turning into a side road ahead of them whilst their dog sniffed around the base of a post box, now going to huge effort to exercise what they saw as their "new right of way" over the car. In one case, we were waiting to emerge from a busy junction and one guy, who was initially 100mtrs away to our right and not a problem, actually sprinted to the car and chose to walk in front of it rather than behind it to CREATE A PROBLEM!
The rules weren't changed to create that kind of drama and conflict.
I'm not totally sure they were changed much at all if I'm honest!
WE WERE ALWAYS OBLIGED to slow down and let people finish crossing a road they'd already started to cross.
WE WERE ALWAYS OBLIGED to check our mirrors before turning left and only turn if it was safe to do so (for example, you wouldn't turn if you saw a cyclist alongside you if you were anything like a decent driver).
WE WERE ALWAYS OBLIGED to leave 2mtrs of space when passing cyclists (and yes, that does mean putting yourself onto the other side of the road in many cases - whether the cyclist is in the gutter or the middle of the lane, whether he's insured, whether he's paid road tax and whether it's even called road tax are all just ridiculous arguments that detract from the fact that it's quite easy for a car pass a cyclist safely when driven by a competent driver).
WE WERE ALWAYS OBLIGED to give way to cyclists as we would any other road user on the carriageway when we were emerging from junctions.
PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS WERE ALWAYS OBLIGED and still are obliged to act sensibly and safely on the road. Perhaps contrary to the way it's been worded in the press coverage, this includes crossing the road only where and when it is safe to do so (but maybe expect approaching traffic to make it safe for you more often than in the past) and cyclists avoiding moving up the inside of vehicles that are signalling or slowing in preparation for a left turn of their own (that's rule number 74 for those who wish to look it up)
FOR A LONG TIME Driving Instructors have been training their drivers to give way to pedestrians approaching a Zebra Crossing "showing an intention to cross the road" unless they were going to arrive at the stop line significantly ahead of the pedestrian and we've also asked our drivers to consider whether it's appropriate to stop and allow pedestrians to cross the mouth of a junction where they are waiting and traffic conditions allow.
I'm nearly 20yrs into this job now and there are many people who have either failed their driving tests or been faulted for not acting with courtesy and responsibility in these situations... the main reason they haven't done so? It's just my opinion, but I think it's because they weren't seeing the other drivers acting in the same way and society tends to criticise those who stand out from the crowd whether it's for good or bad reasons.
For example, how many experienced drivers do you meet that talk with pride about how good they are at driving and talk with pride about they passed their driving test without sufficient training and then went through a process of either crashing or nearly crashing which they call "learning to drive after passing a test"?
I'm a driver that you'll hear talking like that, but I don't reflect with pride. There's nothing to brag about. If anything, I just think it was just lucky that nobody got hurt. The test I passed obviously wasn't fit for purpose. We do it better now.
So what's changed really is that in many ways, the Highway Code has simply been bought up to date with the driving standards already being applied to the driving test. Having it written down in the national "best practice manual" like this also allows courts to act more appropriately when cases are presented to them and hopefully experienced drivers will start driving well as a result rather than holding on to the rules of times gone by.
The new Highway Code is released in physical format on April 16th - why not pre-order it now?
