please empty your brain below
I bounded purposefully along long stretches of cycle lanes yesterday in Cambridge when the pavements were busy with tourists and I was late. It was like having my own fast lane.

Jimmy | 30.01.22 - 8:01 a.m. | #

As W S Gilbert wrote in a different context: "But the laws of common sense we ought not to ignore"

Malcolm of Kent | 30.01.22 - 8:30 a.m. | #

Sigh.............Good luck with trying to enforce these new "Rules".

Hospital beds are still at a premium, and you can still only have 2 visitors (If you live that long).

Me?, when being a pedestrian, I'll continue to use my common sense when crossing the road et al.

As a driver, I'm on everyone's Sh%t list, and apparently should be hanged, drawn, and quartered for the most minor infraction of the Highway Code,

Reg | 30.01.22 - 8:33 a.m. | #

I'm not keen on 'MUST' and 'should' in terms of giving priority to pedestrians, its also ill thought out in terms of turning right if you are the one on a the main road at a junction.

You might be stuck waiting for a gap in traffic, then just at that moment one of them pesky pedestrians appears that you 'should' give way to, do you not make the turn and wait for the next gap, how long is the queue of vehicles behind you?

Still Anon | 30.01.22 - 9:02 a.m. | #

All of this stuff is, apparently, in the legislation already. What the new Highway Code is attempting to do is make the guidance more clear. Motorists are not being demonised or having to adhere to new rules, just being reminded of their responsibility to the more vulnerable road users.

paul draper | 30.01.22 - 9:10 a.m. | #

Still Anon - Pedestrians are traffic just as much the vehicles that are blocking you from turning right. Your remark demonstrates the arrogance and self-entitlement that the Code is trying to counter.

Duster | 30.01.22 - 9:22 a.m. | #

I also missed those full page advertisements explaining those Highway Code changes (/s).

I also missed any notification in 2020 when the so called consultation took place. I consider myself well read, and that year we all had a lot more time on our hands for some reason.

What I did not miss though was a TV interview with a member of a motoring organisation who said that they were not consulted and there were only walkers and cyclists groups in the 20,000 responses apparently received.

What I also did not miss was an article in yesterday's paper stating that the AA believe there will be an increase in shunt collisions at junctions, as well as the obvious risk to said pedestrians.

These changes have not well been thought through, are unbalanced, and as others have opined constitute part of the ongoing "war on the motorist".

I too will be going for a walk today to both observe and delight in my new found freedoms. If I post no more then its been nice to have been part of this community.

Ken | 30.01.22 - 10:16 a.m. | #

So yesterday I stepped into a side-road as the driver of the car approaching from behind had not been indicating an intention to turn. When a turn did occur I instinctively stepped back onto the pavement. And glad I did, as the driver would clearly have made no attempt to stop due to a mere pedestrian being in the way. Theory and the real world will take a long time to coalesce, I think.

cau1khead | 30.01.22 - 11:26 a.m. | #

Looking at that example of the car driver turning the corner, and now having to automatically give way to the pedestrians, as a pedestrian I'm not sure I agree that I should automatically be given priority just because I put my foot in the road. To me that encourages pedestrians to not take due care and attention.

Especially as few junctions are as open as the one in the diagram. When it's dark, and walls and street furniture hamper the view, the pedestrian may not actually be visible until quite late in the turn.

Mikey C | 30.01.22 - 11:41 a.m. | #

As a pedestrian I spend a lot of time observing the behaviour of both drivers and fellow pedestrians while walking along, and it seems there's a large number who give absolutely no regard to the traffic around them - especially to vehicles backing out of driveways or supermarket spaces - and will continue to walk behind manoeuvring cars without a care.
More worrying is the number of parents who let their children run on ahead in such places.

I will continue to let traffic have priority if I am crossing their space, outside of designated crossings, as I'll be the one who will come off worse in an encounter!

But I shall now happily yell "Breaking the Law" at any cyclist or e-scooter that races up to me on the pavement!

Cornish Cockney | 30.01.22 - 12:34 p.m. | #

On Friday I was crossing the road at a four way junction. A main road with a joining road on each side. I was walking parallel to the main road, crossing one of the joining streets.

Half way along and a car zoomed up to the joining road on the other side, saw the main road was clear, came hurtling towards me and expected me to give way to him. Thankfully I spotted this idiot but I was standing in the middle of the road. No way on earth should he have driven across the road. I was there first. I was the one at most risk.

These Highway Code changes are important. But we have a long way to go.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 30.01.22 - 12:35 p.m. | #

I hope they have clearly defined the definition of a mobility scooter otherwise someone might claim that an e-scooter complies with that description.

kev | 30.01.22 - 12:52 p.m. | #

For comparison's sake just a note that in Germany the rule about turning vehicles always having to give way to pedestrians has been in force for a very long time, and while a bit of caution may be sensible, at least where I live you can usually rely on that as a pedestrian.

I agree though that it could be quite a while until such a rule change percolates to everybody and becomes an universally ingrained habit that you can actually relatively safely rely upon as a pedestrian.

Another interesting thing I've come across in that context is that in Germany they're apparently considering going one step even further, and changing the rules such that "give way" signs would require vehicles to yield not just to other vehicular traffic on the crossing road, but also to any crossing pedestrians.

If that change actually goes through, it would be a similar type of rules change as the current changes in the UK, with similar challenges to manage the transition period, so I wonder how well or badly things would play out over here…

Jan | 30.01.22 - 1:02 p.m. | #

One of my bugbears as a driver, is people stepping onto a zebra crossing, expecting cars to stop. Sometimes (for example, another car right behind) this could cause an accident if you stopped dead.

As a child I was taught the Green Cross Code.
I always wait for a car to slow enough or stop before I cross a zebra crossing as a pedestrian. Never expect that a driver has seen you.

Rob Healy | Homepage | 30.01.22 - 1:40 p.m. | #

Everyone that can be a cyclist ought to be a cyclist, just saying.

Noel | 30.01.22 - 2:40 p.m. | #

e-scooters: uncrowned kings of the pavement, anarchists of the road

Rich G | Homepage | 30.01.22 - 2:55 p.m. | #

You should consider approaching a zebra crossing in the same way as you would approach a give way sign at a junction. If your expectation is that you might need to stop then having to do so won't be unexpected.

My experience of driving around with a primary expectation of having to stop instead of projecting loathing on anyone who might slow me down results in a much more relaxed state of mind. No driver can tell me what they are doing is more important than them always doing their best to minimise the risk of killing someone because they make one mistake. Giving way to pedestrians is a good thing and might even result in some warming human interaction, a reciprocated wave or maybe even a smile.

Also there are almost no "accidents" on the roads as that implies unavoidable events which are very rare. The police and media have pretty much stopped using the word for quite a while now as it implies no one was to blame. "No one to blame/sh*t happens" is exactly the kind of culture which allows society to tolerate the thousands killed/injured on our roads every year.

O | 30.01.22 - 3:23 p.m. | #

I think all these rules, guidance, etc can easily be sumarised into:

Don't be a dick and look out for other people.

Jon Jones | 30.01.22 - 3:25 p.m. | #

Learners are now taught to look out for pedestrians about to cross and as O says, be ready to stop. That car right behind should never be so close that it runs into you either; there are many reasons you might stop suddenly.

On the other hand I despair of people who stand talking on the edge of a zebra so you can't tell if they might be about to cross.

Andrew S | 30.01.22 - 5:13 p.m. | #

When I first moved to Sheffield I found it quite perplexing that motorists would stop to let me cross sideroads. Can it really happen down south?

Sarah | Homepage | 30.01.22 - 6:25 p.m. | #

My driving instructor gave me a great piece of advice 'Drive as if everybody else is a complete idiot'

Michael | 30.01.22 - 6:57 p.m. | #

What's new is only that you "should" also stop if the person is on the kerb waiting to stop. And realistically, most good drivers have always done that anyway. It's only the most inconsiderate drivers that did not -- and they are simply going to say "it says should, not must, therefore I won't".

dg writes: noted, thanks.

harry | 30.01.22 - 10:54 p.m. | #

But my car.........

mclm | 31.01.22 - 9:30 a.m. | #

Noel - why?

I have the pleasure of walking to work every day. I could cycle, but I'd personally find that less enjoyable (and, for what it's worth, I would also burn considerably fewer calories).

I can be a cyclist, but on what basis ought I to cycle rather than walk?

sjhoward | Homepage | 31.01.22 - 10:26 a.m. | #

Worth checking out the somewhat perplexing new cycle markings around the pavements outside Stratford International DLR next time you're in the area. They might not be fully finished yet but it's a struggle to see what the thinking was behind them all.

Sean | 31.01.22 - 10:57 a.m. | #

The new highway code rules seem reasonable to me, and not really as radical as some are making out.

What I'm more concerned about is the plague of privately owned e-scooters which are ridden illegally on public roads or pavements. Inner city London is plastered with billboards advertising their sale, and Halfords is brimming with them. This situation is incoherent and insane.

Instead of tinkering with the highway code, lawmakers should tackle the e-scooter menace and either make them illegal to buy and sell, or regulate and licence them properly as vehicles.

Paul | 01.02.22 - 4:19 p.m. | #











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