Club Committee member, Stuart Howard Cofield, kindly offered to write a piece about recent changes to the Highway code. Stuart commutes regularly from Littleborough to Manchester so take a few minutes to review his Article.
Now that the dust is beginning to settle following the recent media announcements regarding the revised Highway Code, we thought it prudent to give a gentle reminder to members when out on the road (on two wheels or more!) about the revisions.
Most of the recent changes are actually just guidance for good road-craft and common courtesy for people getting around on all forms of transport. Many merely confirm much of the advice already given to cyclists (taking the lane at pinch-points, for example) but have highlighted or clarified them for other road users.
There are a few larger revisions for cyclists to take note of: the introduction of a hierarchy of road-users, the simplification of rules at junctions without traffic signals (see note below), positioning on roundabouts and new rules to tackle dangerous overtaking and close passes.
Cycling UK have published a good explainer on the changes with a short video:
The ‘Turn the Corner’ campaign led by British Cycling was instrumental in the amendment to rules regarding junctions and looked to introduce a universal rule to give way to others going straight ahead when turning.
“The code clarifies that when people cycling are going straight ahead at a junction, they have priority over traffic waiting to turn into or out of a side road, unless road signs or markings indicate otherwise.”
This does have an impact where pedestrians are crossing side roads that a vehicle or cyclist is turning into. For more on this, please read:
And finally,
Peter Walker of The Guardian wrote this short article debunking some of the myths about the changes.
