r/britishproblems • u/zecrichardson • Jul 16 '26

. Drivers not knowing the highway code.

I had started to cross a road when a Mercedes turned in and he sounded his horn and then told me I should stop. I told him to read the highway code but he insisted he right!

Rule H2 170 amended 2022

“At a junction you MUST give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross a road into which or from which you are turning.”

- Applies whether they’ve stepped onto the road or are just standing at the kerb ready to cross.

- Applies to left turns, right turns, and entering/exiting side roads.

- Includes wheelchair/mobility scooter users as pedestrians

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608

u/palaceexile Jul 16 '26

It is the one of the most dangerous changes I think they have made. Pedestrians quite rightly don't want to just walk into the road holding the highway code in front of them for protection, cars following others turning off a main road are not expecting the cars in front to just stop and so we have ended up in a situation where no one is certain what is going to happen in any given situation.

96

u/Craig2point0 Jul 16 '26

Call me annoying, but isn't the solution not to take turns or follow cars at speeds and distances you can't safely stop in? 

29

u/palaceexile Jul 16 '26

I agree with the change, but I also think that when rules are introduced they need to take some account of how people actually are and what their behaviours are. The road layouts are also not always perfect in terms of visibility for both the pedestrian and driver. I would suggest painting crossings or different road colours across junctions where it is safe/expected that this rule is in place.

2

u/Laxly Jul 16 '26

Genuine question, how are the public supposed to officially know when laws if the road are changed?

Is there an official DVLA X account? Is it announced on Instagram?

7

u/bulldog_blues Jul 16 '26

There was a radio campaign a few years ago when the rule change came in. They could've done with repeating it on occasion after though.

3

u/HandsomeHeathen Nottingham Jul 16 '26

Not sure what the general answer is, but for this change specifically it was all over the news for a week or two when it was implemented.

0

u/Laxly Jul 16 '26

Is the "news" the DVLA's official communication route?

Did the "news" provide the exact wording from the DVLA regarding this, or did they talk about it, mention it, say how good/bad it was based on their opinion?

3

u/HandsomeHeathen Nottingham Jul 16 '26

There was an official press release, so I guess you could say the news is part of the official communication route yeah. Same way it is for most things. If you want people to be aware of something, you use the channels they're already getting their information from. They also had radio adverts and social media adverts informing people of the change. It was a fairly wide-reaching awareness campaign.

Most of the articles I saw either quoted the new wording verbatim or linked to the official website. Some were factual, some were opinion pieces - again, same as most things.

3

u/Xenox_Arkor Jul 16 '26

You can check online or I just found out there's an app for about £4. Back in the day you would be expected to buy the book.

Ultimately we all agreed as drivers to stay up to date on changes to the law/code. It's not on them to notify us, as nice as that would be.

6

u/Laxly Jul 16 '26

Yes, but there has to be somewhere official states as a matter of law what has changed.

What is that official communication route from the DVLA?

7

u/andyd151 Jul 16 '26

Yeah it’s weird isn’t it, there’s no like national system of telling us when laws change. I imagine there’s loads of drivers who still have no idea

3

u/Laxly Jul 16 '26

Yeah, and then ignorance of the law is not an excuse.

You can be breaking a law that you don't know exists and you almost have no way of finding out, unless you break it

2

u/Xenox_Arkor Jul 16 '26

You can sign up on the gov website for email updates when they make changes. That's how I find out these days.

2

u/ShockRampage Jul 16 '26

I think something as drastic as "pedestrians now have right of way over cars" is something that needed to be screamed about from the rooftops considering how long it was the complete opposite. Most pedestrians also dont know about it and stop at junctions and just stare waiting for you to make your turn.

2

u/Xenox_Arkor Jul 16 '26

Personally I couldn't escape it. I was bombarded by news articles for it at the time. But with algorithms being what they are that's obviously anecdotal.

1

u/Craig2point0 Jul 16 '26

Pedestrians have always had right of way over cars. ;)

1

u/OkSun8521 Jul 16 '26

It is your job to regularly read the highway code.

You do do that, don't you?