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news
Highway Code.PNG9 in 10 road users haven't read Highway Code in past 3 years, survey finds
Only one in 10 road users have read the Highway Code in the past three years, according to new research from the insurer Admiral MultiCover – and four in 10 have not looked at it for more than 20 years.
The revelation comes as a consultation from the Department for Transport (DfT) into proposed major changes to the Highway Code, which closes next month, continues.
> Cyclists called on to support “10 key changes” to Highway Code
Questions included in the insurance company’s research included whether cyclists are legally required to wear a safety helmet, with less than half of respondents – 43 per cent of drivers, 45 per cent of cyclists and 47 per cent of those who are both – correctly answering “no.”
One of the major potential changes to the Highway Code includes establishing a hierarchy of road users, aimed at protecting the most vulnerable, such as cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders.
Among motorists, just 30 per cent were in favour of establishing such a hierarchy, with 70 per cent opposed. Cyclists, on the other hand, backed it by 60 per cent versus 40 per cent. Among those who drive and ride bikes, opinion was split with 53 per cent supporting the idea and 48 per cent against it.
Most agreed that cyclists should have third party insurance, with 79 per cent of drivers, 60 per cent of cyclists and 70 per cent of those belonging to both categories in favour.
Most cyclists already have such cover whether through their household insurance or membership of organisations such as British Cycling or Cycling UK, of course.
The idea of compulsory insurance was rejected by 38 per cent of cyclists and 17 per cent of those who also drive, but by only 7 per cent of motorists.
(It is worth noting that the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, the industry-run body which provides compensation in cases where a driver is uninsured, estimates that there are 1 million such motorists in the UK, despite a third party cover being compulsory).
According to the insurer, the highest number of claims in which a cyclist was involved over the past decade came from policyholders living in Leeds, followed by Bristol and the London Borough of Wandsworth.
It also analysed claims involving cyclists over the past decade by the month they happened in; unsurprisingly, there is a peak in the summer, although perhaps not as pronounced as might be expected compared to the data found in the Department for Transport’s own annual road casualty statistics.
Admiral added: “The way people travel is changing, and we support more permanent infrastructure plans for safe and sustainable travel for all road users.
“Dedicated spaces on the roads will help keep everyone safe.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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30 comments
Periodic retesting to demonstrate that driving is a priviledge not a right would be a start. You could add to that that you can't take a test with points on your licence if you wanted to tighten things up further. And I would reserve a special test in hell for white van drivers.... I've always thought is peculiar that you can take a test in a Nissan Micra with good all-round visibility in the morning, and drive a massive white van in the afternoon with considerably less vision. The cost of these tests would, of course, bring revenues to our cash-strapped state.....though they could just print some more instead, I suppose.
I find it somewhat insulting that you tar all white van drivers with the same brush. Some of us (had you guessed yet?) are considerate and thoughtful drivers (0 points in more than 45 years driving). Furthermore you can't blame the restricted vision in a van on the driver and not everyone who takes a driving test does so in a Micra. I for one did mine in a LWB Series 3 Land Rover, the one with the spare on the bonnet. Considerably less all round visibility than my little van.
As with cyclists, and the name Karen, the 'White Van Man' had become synomous with certain things due to the high profile actions of a few.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_van_man
Unfortunately, the ignorance of the HC extends to the police. They (Blackpool Tac Ops sergeant) think a cyclist is obliged to ride in the gutter in order to permit a driver to overtake them (no matter what the speed of the cyclist is) without crossing over the double white line. If they don't he threatens to prosecute them for 'inconsiderate riding'. However, he then backs down by refusing to respond to 'Go ahead, punk, make my day'- or whatever the correct quotation is. With police like this, no wonder bad drivers don't bother with the HC.
Blackpool Tac Ops must be busy, there's an awful lot of tacky stuff going on there.
Why do they need the paramilitary name? It's a community service, not the SAS.
Why do they need the paramilitary name? It's a community service, not the SAS.
Gute frage! as Herr Kaleun says in Das Boot. It's because they dream of being dramatic crime fighting Super-Heroes with dramatic TacOps emblazoned all over their traffic crime busting BMWs. The effect is somewhat reduced by these Panzers congregating at sleepy Garstang to avoid having to get involved with traffic offences in Blackpool, Preston and Lancaster
Actually I thought of deleting my flippant comment due to the death of Matt Ratana, killed for doing his job. I'd rather have a bit of police posturing with squad titles than most other countries' forces. Ours are not perfect by any means but many do a very difficult job very well, at personal risk of the very worst happening.
I think you could narrow Wandsworth down to a single junction bottleneck....probably the rest too. Why doesn't the Highways Agency take this data and do something with it?
Maybe these new cars with touch screen infotainment systems should present the driver with a couple of random highway code questions that they have to get correct before the car will start!
Good one. I like that and delay starting the engine by 5 minutes increasing 5 fold for every wrong answer.
Nah - three wrong answers and you just get locked out, and then you have to email the DVLA to get it unlocked again.
Alright and emails only answered Mo-Fr 9-12 and 13-16:00.
Honestly, I've hardly read the HC since I passed my test twenty years ago, apart from a couple of checks on new road signs and so on. Probably should, really.
Some pretty iffy statistics from the MIB there though. Leeds 269 claims, Bristol 265... but if you add up the entries there for places that are 'London' you get 909, and I'm sure the other boroughs aren't far behind. To be expected of course given the population and cyclist density, but why fudge the numbers?
The rank order is meaningless since the locations vary wildly both in surface area and population. However it serves the purpose of generating column inches for the insurer with a product to sell.
This is why retesting every 5 years would make sense, a specialist theory test for those who have been driving for years, which includes things that have been added to the hwc in recent years, then if they don't pass that, a practical retest. It may at least get more drivers thinking about the way they drive, most seem to forget that passing your test is the minimum standard for driving, not the gold standard.
Id's also be happy to pay for 3rd party insurance (I think I'm already covered anyway) but even if it had to be through a specific insurance company I'd gladly pay the ~£15 a year it would cost if it meant all of the uninsured drivers were going to be fined, with the same for drivers without an MOT. There are enough traffic cameras out there to know if a car without insurance is being used.
I've often advocated for linking petrol station CCTV to a goverment/DVLA/insurance database.
Any time someone goes for petrol the registration should be checked for insurance, MOT and VED. Any fails should be immediately flagged up and maybe linked to the card of the individual who pays.
To be honest, excluding new drivers preparing for their test within the last three years, I'd be very surprised to find even 10% of drivers who have read (cover to cover) the Highway Code in that time. I'd suspect those who claim to have "read" the book maybe just consulted the appendix on road signs to settle a pub quiz dispute.
Maybe road.cc could put up a quick HWC quiz, see how many honest people can muster a pass mark.
90% of road users haven't read it since their test, and the othe 10% are lying.
I use(d) it for work from time to time, so might look at parts of it every month or so, but I couldn't claim to have read the whole thing for almost 30 years.
I read bits and pieces of it from time to time because of my work. But I haven't read it in full for year and years.
My thoughts exactly. I think the question might have been; have you referred to HC in the past 3 years?
Also new drivers preparing for their theory test just use an app that runs through all the common questions. They certainly do not learn it from actually reading the HC.
Shocking that 55% of cyclists think wearing a helmet is mandatory, 40% are against the idea of a hierarchy of road users, and a similar figure against 3rd party insurance or compulsory insurance. We cyclists need to educate ourselves.
I honestly think this is why you see so many people riding along with a helmet dangling from their handlebars. They think it's a legal requirement to wear one, so they have one with them just in case they get stopped by the police.
I work as a highway engineer and I'm pretty surprised at the idea that 60% of drivers claim to have read their HC in 20 years. In my experience it's almost none. I've even had drivers say "I don't need to read the Highway Code, I've passed my test." Seriously.
The ignorance of it is incredible - I'd bet that even most people who think they're sensible, safe road users don't understand many road signs and markings. There's a recent proposal to re-write sections, that will introduce a hierarchy of users based on their vulnerability - peds at the bottom and drivers of tonnes of metal at the top. It's all kind of pointless unless people are forced to read the thing, isn't it..?
I don't think it's that surprising. Most of that 60% are going to be people who learnt to drive within the last 20 years. And then haven't looked at it since.
I think there's a bit of conflation of 'road user' with 'driver' here - but agree with the sentiment.
If 4 in 10 haven't read the HC in 20 years, no wonder so many drivers don't know what an asl is.
Cyclists should have insurance because drivers have to pay £350 a year, so it's only fair. [Stamps foot]
And they have to pay road tax and stop at red lights.
And know their highway code...
Oh, hang on...
Is it a good thing that the no idling law is almost never enforced? I'm not sure how that would translate for cyclists?
Actually it's not too bad, as up to 2mins idling is acceptable.