On Saturday 29th January 2022 the Highway Code was updated. It’s important that as a learner you are aware of these changes and how they will impact your driving. If you have a theory test coming up it is particularly important that you aware of the changes as the Highway Code is one of the main texts upon which the test questions are based.
What’s new?
The first change to be aware of is the new hierarchy of road users. This is designed to encourage all road users to be aware of those more vulnerable than themselves. The hierarchy is as follows:
The ‘Hierarchy of Road Users’ is a concept that places those road users most at risk in the event of a collision at the top of the hierarchy. The hierarchy does not remove the need for everyone to behave responsibly. The road users most likely to be injured in the event of a collision are pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders and motorcyclists, with children, older adults and disabled people being more at risk.
Another large change is linked to priority at junctions. In order to protect the pedestrians, other road users now need to be prepared to give way to them at junctions. This image should help you:
When we are negotiating junctions we should now consider if we can safely give way to the pedestrians wishing to cross the road, and if there is no risk of a rear end collision or confusion then we should pause before we turn to give the pedestrian plenty of room to cross the road.
There are other changes too, some are simply reworded rules, designed to make it easier for road rules to be held responsible for their actions. Here is the link to the full document of changes, the new Highway Code, including these rules, will be published in due course.
Ruth Blythe Driving Instructor 