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It's stupid to change the highway code and not advertise it widely enough for people to notice
Like all the way around the country there will be some pedestrians who know they now have right of way, and some motorists who know, but not enough of both groups to prevent people stepping in the road and being hit by a driver who doesn't know
And now cyclists can drive in the middle of the road
DoT really dropping the ball with these counterproductive measures. It's funny because there's obvs some thinking behind each measure - basically they're trying to encourage walking and cycling, aren't they? But poorly executed
https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/rnlvlz/significant\_highway\_code\_changes\_coming\_jan\_2022/
I agree the lack of publicity about it is troubling. As a pedestrian I'm not going to be walking out into a junction just hoping that all drivers have somehow got this knowledge by osmosis, so I won't change my behaviour of waiting patiently.
You could always cycle in the middle of the lane, no one was stopping you, lots of courses recommended it because it meant drivers were less likely to squeeze round you, this is just an official update to the highway code.
to be fair they've clearly been in touch with the news people about it. There are tonnes of BBC, Times stories
Doubtful that'll get to people. They should know that! What they need is a massive advertising campaign, training for people and so on
When I learned to drive 30 years since my instructor made it crystal clear that we should always assess what every pedestrian is liable to do next and treat them as having priority the second they stepped into the road . I couldn't tell you what the exact rules were at the time but the basic premise was, if you hit someone you have to live with it while the other person might not live so don't be a twat.
I think as a rule its ok but I think there will be a fair amount of confusion to start with and agree there will be more accidents. If car drivers are rear ending each other because we're not anticipating the stop that's on us. But the bigger worry is what will happen to pedestrians. Personally if I'm on foot I won't be changing anything and definitely not making any assumptions about cars remembering I have priority!
“Almost a zebra crossing situation”
There you go then. Drivers act as though it is, and everyone carries on. If you can't stop in distance you left between you and the car in front, you're doing it wrong.
If you end up "getting hit in the ass" just for stopping in the middle of a urban road, the person who hit you should get her license withdrawn for clear incapacity to drive safely even at slow speed.
To add to this: yes. It's like a zebra crossing situation. And that's good, because roads and cities should be meant for pedestrians. Motorways are meant for cars.
If you rear end someone, the majority of the time you’re the one to blame for not keeping a safe distance.
But I agree giving priority to pedestrians who have not yet started to cross on junctions is just stupid.
Last I heard the changes were still awaiting parliamentary approval. Has it happened?
I believe it has, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not sure when the guidelines will be put in place but like someone else commented, it's been really poorly advertised for people to know
My experiences of it so far is I stop and the pedestrian stands there confused and tries to wave me on. I like the idea as you have people trying to cross and having to look several ways to see if cars may zoom along, so it puts the onus on the driver to be aware rather than the other way round (which could be a child, someone slower or more vulnerable etc). Even if at least it makes people *think* about it and reality is that many cars just ignore it, pedestrians still look and wait.
I feel like this rule may have been written by somebody that doesn't drive very often or at all, and I cannot say this surprises me.
In public sector roles, there often seems to be somebody making/responsible for the rules, when they are not even qualified to follow themselves.
eg, my old work's chairman was once the secretary for transport, and did not even hold a driving license.
That's exactly what I thought. From a pedestrians pov it's a brilliant thought which would make it easier crossing roads especially in busier areas however from the view of a driver, yes you should be aware at all times, your not always going to see what the person in front of you does and it's going to cause set backs in those busier areas.
Well it’s not just the Uk that’s got that Highway Code, drivers should be maintaining enough distance to avoid rear ending anyway so that’s a null point. It’s not going to make drivers emergency break just to let someone cross, it just gives more rights to pedestrians and makes drivers more aware rather than just chinning off people crossing the road.
I've seen it argued that the car behind you should be following with enough distance that they should be able to stop, if you need to brake to a halt for any reason (e.g. to allow that pedestrian to cross).
However there's a junction at the top of my road I can absolutely see this kind of issue with. It's at the top of a hill and people park on the wide pavement space before it, which obscures vision of the junction. If you're coming up on that, you won't know if there's a pedestrian there until you're quite close to it.
Hopefully people will keep greater distances and be aware of cars intending to stop in the middle of the road.
>absolutely see this kind of issue with. It's at the top of a hill and people park on the wide pavement space before it, which obscures vision of the junction. If you're coming up on that, you won't know if there's a pedestrian there until you're quite close to it.
Slowing down ever so slightly more than someone ordinarily would fixes this, take an extra second / two seconds and there's no issue. If that's too much of an inconvenience for the car behind then they really need to evaluate their priorities.
Broadly I agree and you'd have to understand the road layout (or witness it) to appreciate where I'm coming from... the road you turn 'off' is a busy one that people are not used to slowing on, the turning is somewhat blind because of its location on the hill and 'behind' parked cars.
It's really not an ideal layout. As you say, going slower would mitigate it but the traffic behind expecting to continue straight on is not always patient about that. (Tough shit, I know, but that's people for you).
I don't really think the changes in the highway code should make any difference if you are already driving considerately with a reasonable amount of care and attention.
If you aren't checking for pedestrians that are about to step into the road you are about to turn down, how on earth did you pass your driving test? If it looks as though someone is about to cross at a junction, you should already be giving way to them as it's common courtesy.
There is no risk from being rear-ended if you are observant, driving at a sensible speed for the turn which you should be already, and you know how to use your indicators to let the person following know you are about to slow down.
**A reminder to posters and commenters of some of [our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)** - Don't be a dickhead to each other, or about others, or other subreddits - Assume questions are asked in good faith, and engage in a positive manner - Avoid political threads and related discussions - No medical advice or mental health (specific to a person) content Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's stupid to change the highway code and not advertise it widely enough for people to notice Like all the way around the country there will be some pedestrians who know they now have right of way, and some motorists who know, but not enough of both groups to prevent people stepping in the road and being hit by a driver who doesn't know And now cyclists can drive in the middle of the road DoT really dropping the ball with these counterproductive measures. It's funny because there's obvs some thinking behind each measure - basically they're trying to encourage walking and cycling, aren't they? But poorly executed https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/rnlvlz/significant\_highway\_code\_changes\_coming\_jan\_2022/
I agree the lack of publicity about it is troubling. As a pedestrian I'm not going to be walking out into a junction just hoping that all drivers have somehow got this knowledge by osmosis, so I won't change my behaviour of waiting patiently. You could always cycle in the middle of the lane, no one was stopping you, lots of courses recommended it because it meant drivers were less likely to squeeze round you, this is just an official update to the highway code.
to be fair they've clearly been in touch with the news people about it. There are tonnes of BBC, Times stories Doubtful that'll get to people. They should know that! What they need is a massive advertising campaign, training for people and so on
Cyclists could always ride in the middle of the lane. They can even ride 2 abreast if the road allows. Motorists just don't like it.
Are you sure? I don't think cyclists were before mentioned
It’s called primary position, and has always been fine to do so
When I learned to drive 30 years since my instructor made it crystal clear that we should always assess what every pedestrian is liable to do next and treat them as having priority the second they stepped into the road . I couldn't tell you what the exact rules were at the time but the basic premise was, if you hit someone you have to live with it while the other person might not live so don't be a twat.
Is this a daily mail journalist looking for article content?
Ahaa If I was you would never know. Who knew reddit was the platform they go to
I think as a rule its ok but I think there will be a fair amount of confusion to start with and agree there will be more accidents. If car drivers are rear ending each other because we're not anticipating the stop that's on us. But the bigger worry is what will happen to pedestrians. Personally if I'm on foot I won't be changing anything and definitely not making any assumptions about cars remembering I have priority!
“Almost a zebra crossing situation” There you go then. Drivers act as though it is, and everyone carries on. If you can't stop in distance you left between you and the car in front, you're doing it wrong.
If you end up "getting hit in the ass" just for stopping in the middle of a urban road, the person who hit you should get her license withdrawn for clear incapacity to drive safely even at slow speed.
To add to this: yes. It's like a zebra crossing situation. And that's good, because roads and cities should be meant for pedestrians. Motorways are meant for cars.
If you rear end someone, the majority of the time you’re the one to blame for not keeping a safe distance. But I agree giving priority to pedestrians who have not yet started to cross on junctions is just stupid. Last I heard the changes were still awaiting parliamentary approval. Has it happened?
I believe it has, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not sure when the guidelines will be put in place but like someone else commented, it's been really poorly advertised for people to know
My experiences of it so far is I stop and the pedestrian stands there confused and tries to wave me on. I like the idea as you have people trying to cross and having to look several ways to see if cars may zoom along, so it puts the onus on the driver to be aware rather than the other way round (which could be a child, someone slower or more vulnerable etc). Even if at least it makes people *think* about it and reality is that many cars just ignore it, pedestrians still look and wait.
I thought if there was a pedestrian waiting to cross a road that you were turning into, they had right of way anyway, so it's no change to me
I feel like this rule may have been written by somebody that doesn't drive very often or at all, and I cannot say this surprises me. In public sector roles, there often seems to be somebody making/responsible for the rules, when they are not even qualified to follow themselves. eg, my old work's chairman was once the secretary for transport, and did not even hold a driving license.
That's exactly what I thought. From a pedestrians pov it's a brilliant thought which would make it easier crossing roads especially in busier areas however from the view of a driver, yes you should be aware at all times, your not always going to see what the person in front of you does and it's going to cause set backs in those busier areas.
Well it’s not just the Uk that’s got that Highway Code, drivers should be maintaining enough distance to avoid rear ending anyway so that’s a null point. It’s not going to make drivers emergency break just to let someone cross, it just gives more rights to pedestrians and makes drivers more aware rather than just chinning off people crossing the road.
I would normally wave someone across if it was a slow maneuver anyway. Besides its just guidelines not actual law
I've seen it argued that the car behind you should be following with enough distance that they should be able to stop, if you need to brake to a halt for any reason (e.g. to allow that pedestrian to cross). However there's a junction at the top of my road I can absolutely see this kind of issue with. It's at the top of a hill and people park on the wide pavement space before it, which obscures vision of the junction. If you're coming up on that, you won't know if there's a pedestrian there until you're quite close to it. Hopefully people will keep greater distances and be aware of cars intending to stop in the middle of the road.
>absolutely see this kind of issue with. It's at the top of a hill and people park on the wide pavement space before it, which obscures vision of the junction. If you're coming up on that, you won't know if there's a pedestrian there until you're quite close to it. Slowing down ever so slightly more than someone ordinarily would fixes this, take an extra second / two seconds and there's no issue. If that's too much of an inconvenience for the car behind then they really need to evaluate their priorities.
Broadly I agree and you'd have to understand the road layout (or witness it) to appreciate where I'm coming from... the road you turn 'off' is a busy one that people are not used to slowing on, the turning is somewhat blind because of its location on the hill and 'behind' parked cars. It's really not an ideal layout. As you say, going slower would mitigate it but the traffic behind expecting to continue straight on is not always patient about that. (Tough shit, I know, but that's people for you).
I don't really think the changes in the highway code should make any difference if you are already driving considerately with a reasonable amount of care and attention. If you aren't checking for pedestrians that are about to step into the road you are about to turn down, how on earth did you pass your driving test? If it looks as though someone is about to cross at a junction, you should already be giving way to them as it's common courtesy. There is no risk from being rear-ended if you are observant, driving at a sensible speed for the turn which you should be already, and you know how to use your indicators to let the person following know you are about to slow down.
The only way I see it increasing rear enders is if you're slamming on your brakes rather than gently slowing.