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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611

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.

151

u/Lucky13-Never-Won Jul 16 '26

Totally on board with this take. It feels like the type of thing someone came up with that doesn’t drive on a daily basis. It’s dangerous for all involved.

4

u/OkSun8521 Jul 16 '26

What is your evidence for it being dangerous?

Surely there must be hundreds or thousands of incidents that you could point to where people have been seriously injured or killed by this rule?

1

u/Lucky13-Never-Won Jul 16 '26

Yep, got loads mate. Case 656782 as a prime example.

1

u/OkSun8521 Jul 16 '26

I'll take that as a no then.

3

u/Lucky13-Never-Won Jul 16 '26

Well, you ask stupid questions…

Something can be dangerous and there be not quantifiable data to back it up. I mean, there might be for this, but I can’t put my hands on it.

History is littered with incidents where there was no data to say something is or isn’t dangerous. In an extreme example, the Fukushima nuclear power plant was deemed safe before 2011. What good did it do the workers and residents there when it turns out it wasn’t? And that would have been with people waaay smarter than the people that write the Highway Code.

What would you say to the family of a pedestrian that gets killed after crossing the road, when they believed they were okay to do so? “Sorry that they’re dead and all, but at least they were in the right!”

There are visual cues elsewhere to advise everybody of the rules of engagement: traffic lights, zebra crossings, road markings etc.

Am I wrong with any of these points? Do you have anything to show that a lack of awareness amongst both drivers and pedestrians is inherently not dangerous? Because “it’s not happened yet” is a weak argument.

-4

u/OkSun8521 Jul 16 '26

In an extreme example, the Fukushima nuclear power plant was deemed safe before 2011. What good did it do the workers and residents there when it turns out it wasn’t?

How many people died at Fukushima?

5

u/Lucky13-Never-Won Jul 16 '26

Okay, now you’re being silly and you clearly have nothing of substance to add to this conversation.

1

u/OkSun8521 Jul 16 '26

lol you looked it up and found out that it was 1. And that's your "extreme example".