{"id":2010,"date":"2022-01-25T09:43:57","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T09:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/?p=2010"},"modified":"2022-01-25T09:43:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T09:43:58","slug":"code-breakermotorists-in-danger-of-breaking-the-new-rules-of-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/?p=2010","title":{"rendered":"Code breaker\u2026motorists in danger of breaking the new \u201crules of the road\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The UK\u2019s leading road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart, has warned that a lack of communication from the government regarding the sweeping changes to the Highway Code set to come into force on 29<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0January means that many motorists will be running the risk of inadvertently breaking the rules of the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, four new rules and 49 changes to the Code include the requirement for drivers to give way to pedestrians at a junction, as well as a new risk-based \u2018Hierarchy of Road Users\u2019 which places more responsibility on the drivers of larger vehicles to look after more vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1024x575.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2011 lazyload\" width=\"488\" height=\"273\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1024x575.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2011 lazyload\" width=\"488\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1024x575.png 1024w, https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-150x84.png 150w, https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-768x431.png 768w, https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image.png 1137w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while IAM RoadSmart has welcomed some of the changes, the charity has cautioned that the new rules will be of very little benefit if the public aren\u2019t made aware of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Neil Greig, Director of Policy and Research at IAM RoadSmart, commented: \u201cThere is very little evidence from trials or pilot schemes that the new hierarchy or rules will help people feel safer undertaking active forms of travel, which has huge benefits in terms of personal health, local communities and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1-1024x478.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2012 lazyload\" width=\"557\" height=\"260\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1-1024x478.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2012 lazyload\" width=\"557\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1-1024x478.png 1024w, https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1-300x140.png 300w, https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1-150x70.png 150w, https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1-768x359.png 768w, https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1-1536x718.png 1536w, https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/image-1.png 1573w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 557px) 100vw, 557px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The vast majority of people won\u2019t have read the Highway Code for many years, meaning it is absolutely essential that changes are communicated in a simple, memorable and timely fashion. Unfortunately, this has not been the case so far, meaning there is now huge potential for more conflict on the roads rather than less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0\u201cIAM RoadSmart will continue to inform its members and the wider public about such changes, but the government must also do more to effectively raise awareness of changes coming in just under a weeks&#8217; time, ensuring Britain\u2019s world leading road safety record is not put at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Concerns are also shared by bodies representing motorcyclists, who have asserted that the Code has neglected the needs of motorcyclists.  Despite such concerns, bodies representing other vulnerable road users have welcomed the new hierarchy of road users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alan Hiscox, Director of Safety at The British Horse Society (BHS), added: \u201cThe BHS welcome these crucial changes to the Highway Code. They are a significant step forward for equestrian road safety and will help protect vulnerable road users, making the roads safer for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am pleased that the BHS was able to represent the equestrian community within the Highway Code stakeholder group, alongside other vulnerable user groups, to ensure that all equestrians were included in the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur Dead Slow campaign messaging about how to pass horses safely on the roads will be included, as well as reducing the advisory speed to pass a horse from 15mph to 10mph and including horses alongside cyclists in the hierarchy of road users.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UK\u2019s leading road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart, has warned that a lack of communication from the government regarding the sweeping changes to the Highway Code set to come into force on 29th\u00a0January means that many motorists will be running&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guildford-iam.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}