news analysis Motorists are demoted below pedestrians and cyclists in the road user hierarchy of the new Highway Code. Mark Bursa explains
Two wheels good, two legs better S IGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE “RULES OF THE road” came into force on Saturday, January 29, when a major update to the Highway Code went live.
The changes are significant, and mean that behaviour and priorities that drivers have taken for granted over many years have been turned on their head. The changes are “advisory”, so failing to obey them will not lead to prosecutions, fines or points on your licence. “Non-compliance will not result in a fine,” the Department for Transport confirmed. But they mean other road users – especially pedestrians and cyclists – will expect to be treated differently, so it’s best to understand the changes to avoid road rage incidents, or worse, inadvertently causing collisions or injuries because you’re not doing what someone else will now expect you to do. At the heart of the changes is a new hierarchy of road users. The motorist has been relegated in the pecking order of road users, with pedestrians promoted to the top of the pile, followed by cyclists, horse riders and motorcyclists – then car drivers. The idea behind the new hierarchy is that with motorists have the greatest potential to harm other road users, thus they should have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger they pose to others. That’s a noble aim – but looking at some of the changes, it’s clear that there is potential for, in the short term at least, an increase in accidents, not the hoped-for reduction. For example, drivers turning into a side road from a main road should now give way to any pedestrians waiting to cross the side road. Previously, the pedestrian should wait until the car has turned before carrying on along the pavement, unless the pedestrian had already started to cross. The new rules mean pedestrians now have pri-
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ority if they have started to cross the road or not. What this means is a car may now have to stop on a busy main road before it can turn off – and that leaves the stationary vehicle vulnerable to a rearend shunt if following vehicles are too close, or travelling too fast. And if you run into the back of a car that’s turning, it’s your fault. So it’s important to be aware of pedestrian behaviour. What looks like jaywalking is now the pedestrian’s right of way. The changes have inevitably stirred up a hornet’s nest of opinions on social media – cyclists and motorists are not happy bedfellows in the UK, unlike in other European nations such as the Netherlands or Denmark, where two wheels and four happily coexist in calm harmony. So it’s probably best to avoid the Twitterati, and instead listen to calmer voices, such as the motoring associations, which have welcomed the changes. RAC’s Nicholas Lye said the changes “should make the roads safer for the most vulnerable road users, in particular those walking and cycling”. And AA president Edmund King said: “The changes are a reminder that all road users have a responsibility to look after one another.” King added that more people cycling had “transformed road use to some extent” and that the High-
way Code needed to be updated to reflect that. Within the Highway Code there are eight major changes. As well as the extra priority for pedestrians, cyclists get more too. Cyclists traveling straight ahead at junctions have priority over motorists who might be turning. So if there is a cyclist waiting at lights on the inside of the road and looking to go straight ahead while a motorist is looking to turn left, you must let the cyclist proceed before starting to turn. Cyclists are one of the prime beneficiaries of the changes, and with good reason. The increase in cycling’s popularity has led to an increase in serious injuries. In the past 5 years, serious injuries to cyclists in collisions with vehicles rose by 26%. According to data from Merlin Cycles, the evening rush hour is when cyclists are most commonly injured on roads. Serious injuries are more likely to happen on urban roads, but fatalities more commonly happen in rural areas. And a staggering 38% of all cyclist casualties happen at staggered junctions. “Out of 11,348 incidents the top-reported contributory factor was a road-user, ‘failing to look properly,” said Rick Robson of Merlin Cycles. A total of 3,782 pedal cyclists were seriously injured. “Not performing the necessary checks before a manoeuvre means that it’s easy for drivers to fail to spot an approaching bike rider,” he added.
FEBRUARY 2022
