Direct Vision Update
Words: Richard Simpson
CODE CHANGE PUTS EMPHASIS ON DRIVERS New revisions to the Highway Code make visibility issues from trucks even more important than ever
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ecent changes to the Highway Code have put fresh emphasis on the need for drivers of large vehicles to shoulder responsibility for vulnerable road users. In particular, there is now a formalised and stated hierarchy of road users – with the most vulnerable at the top and the least vulnerable at the bottom. In essence, this appears to make truck drivers – in charge of the largest vehicles – responsible for the safety of all those around them, with cyclists responsible only for the safety of pedestrians and equestrians. The reality is, though, that the legalities of the situation have barely changed. Specialist traffic law solicitor Andrew Dalton, from White Dalton Solicitors, points out that the latest Highway Code is only repeating what case law established in the 1970s: that truck drivers were drivers of ‘large and invulnerable’ vehicles requiring ‘special licence and skills’ to drive and, as such, owed a higher
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duty of care to drivers of less imposing vehicles. Dalton points to a 2003 case heard by Lady Justice Hale in which she coined the phrase “destructive disparity”. That particular case involved a collision between a car and a pedestrian, but the implications for drivers of large vehicles generally are clear: courts can take into account the greater dangers imposed by cars and larger vehicles when apportioning responsibility. Letter of the law The Highway Code itself is not law, but it does reflect not just what laws passed by Parliament say, but also how that law has been interpreted by courts (case or ‘common’ law). And, while the Highway Code does not define the law in itself, courts are obliged to take what it says into account, which means it gradually becomes accepted as law even though it was not written as law.
spring 2022
