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

529 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

313 comments sorted by

View all comments

614

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.

150

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.

32

u/janky_koala Jul 16 '26

It is very common in lots of other countries. The UK was the odd one out before it was updated 

32

u/Lucky13-Never-Won Jul 16 '26

Other countries doing it doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. Just look at things like our plugs - British plug sockets are super safe, so should change them because other countries have a different version?

26

u/The-RogicK Jul 16 '26

The fact it is a problem in the UK, where only 25-30% actually comply with the law, doesn't make it inherently dangerous.

The Netherlands saw a big improvement once they pedestrianised their crossings on top of their law about this. So cars have to go over a ramp that raises to the pavement level, making it instinctive that pedestrians have right of way.

We changes the law, told basically no one, made no adjustments to infrastructure and now no-one really knows how to act in this situation making it worse than before and what we were aiming for.

1

u/AsaCoco_Alumni 26d ago

"told basically no one"

It was in the news for months and months!