Road users come in all different forms, there are pedestrians, horse riders, cyclists and of course, drivers. The Highway Code is seen by all of these road users as the default set of rules for correct road behaviour.
Around a decade the motorcar was born, there were two million of them on the roads and in 1930 there were around 7300 deaths by road accidents. Considering that in 2006 there were around 3000 deaths by road accidents and over 20 million cars on the road, the 1930 statistics needed sorting out.
The government of the day knew that they needed to do something about this, thus the Highway Code was born. Now nearly 80 years old, it has had a lot of changes made to it over the years considering that the original version of the Code contained information about things like what actions to take when driving your carriage and horses, and was only 24 pages long!
There was no mention of why driving drunk or tired was dangerous or any road signs or stopping distances and it cost one old penny. Included in the second edition, released in 1946, was advice on why you shouldn't drive drunk or tired, and the first fifteen road signs to be put out on British roads made the debut appearance, only two of which we still use today.
Braking distances did not come into the equation until the second version either. Even then they were just in a plain chart type display. Images were not used to show stopping distances until the 1954 version, along with another 16 roadsigns, bringing the total to 31, which compared to today's 170, who knows what road signs will look like in another 60 years.
By 1968 we were on the sixth edition which included such visual aids as 3D images and photographs. There was a new version in 1978, which contained the Green Cross Code for pedestrians and introduced the orange badges for disabled people. A later update of this version contained advice on car security after a massive rise in car crime.
Then, the theory driving test was introduced in The 90's, along with an update to the Code to include the information that new drivers need to pass it, hence this has now become part of the code itself.
The Highway Code has been adapted over the 78 years that it has been with us to become the comprehensive book on road advice, guidelines and law. One of the newest of which being the fact that you cannot use mobile phones while driving, and considering mobile phones weren't invented when the Code was originally brought out, it just shows how the laws of the road have adapted and changed with society.
About the Author:
For legal advice on the laws of the road and to fully clarify what is within driving law and what isn't, completely free of charge, visit pattersonlaw.co.uk. They provide a full legal advice service in a question & answer style form.
Get all the information and photos:: http://coringa.info/lawlegal/the-highway-code-throughout-history
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