Highways England has announced that it will change the Highway Code, updating it to introduce rules for navigating smart motorways, among other amendments.
Following a consultation in March, the Government announced that it will be 'taking forward all of our proposed changes (two new rules, amendments to 33 existing rules and six proposed changes to the additional information and annexes within The Highway Code) thanks to the strong public support'.
It pledged to also use insights gained from the public consultation to improve the content and wording of the revised version of The Highway Code.
'In accordance with section 38 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, the revised version of The Highway Code will be laid before both Houses of Parliament for a period of 40 days. If Parliament agrees to the proposed changes, we will then work with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and The Stationery Office (TSO) to update The Highway Code online during Autumn 2021 and to produce a new printed edition in early 2022,' the DfT said in a statement.
Changes to the code include new and additional guidance relating to smart motorways including:
- the availability, appearance and safe use of emergency areas
- the use of variable speed limits to manage congestion
- the use of the red ‘X’ sign to close lanes and provide a safer area for the people and vehicles involved in incidents and road works the use of hard shoulders that become extra lanes during periods of congestion
- how road users can help keep themselves safe in the event of a breakdown
- how safety cameras are employed to promote compliance with speed limits and lane closures
There will be a new rule on emergency areas to ensure drivers understand:
- emergency areas are located along motorways without hard shoulders or where the hard shoulder is used some of the time as an extra lane
- how to recognise an emergency area
- emergency areas are for emergency use only
There will also be a new rule describing safer places to stop in the event of a breakdown or other incident to ensure that readers understand:
- a place of relative safety is where the people and vehicles involved in a breakdown or other incident are less likely to be at risk from moving traffic
- the safest place to stop in the event of a breakdown or incident is a location which is designed for parking
- on motorways and other high-speed roads, the safest place to stop is a service area
- other places of relative safety on motorways and other high-speed roads include lay-bys, emergency areas and hard shoulders
- hard shoulders provide less protection than other places of relative safety
A full list of the changes can be found here.
Overall, the percentages of respondents agreeing with each of the proposed changes to The Highway Code ranged from 70% to 99%, Highways England said.
