Drivers not following Highway code

[MikeRafone]

https://x.com/citizenuddin/status/1687092237786820608?s=46&t=6ReKAbxD2gRFwL---KRV8w

why do drivers not follow the Highway Code?

if you’re not going to update yourself regularly on Highway ide you should lose your licence to drive

Is this really part of the highway code. Could potentially be very dangerous and more likely to cause accidents.

@tttigress yes it is. It was brought in in Jan 2022. I'm rather surprised at a PP who did their theory recently and says otherwise:

Recently did my theory test. Thought you only had to give way to pedestrians already in the road?

Here is a link

The updated code clarifies that:

• when people are crossing or waiting to cross at a junction, other traffic should give way

Yes, it really is. The lack of awareness of this by so many motorists is what makes it dangerous and more likely to cause accidents.

The problem is that so many drivers are on their phones, speeding etc that makes this rule incredibly risky. If they aren't going to stop using their phones they certainly aren't going to stop to let a pedestrian across.
I will carry on waiting to cross when it's safe for me. Not when the highway code thinks I should cross.

The highway code is clear in saying you should wait for cars to stop before stepping into the road. Surely people apply this logic at all crossings though? I don't assume people are definitely going to stop because there's a red light either, or a zebra crossing. If there's any doubt in my mind then I won't risk stepping out. It's not a mistake you would get to make often

It's like how the pedestrian has the right of way to use a crossing or dropped curb crossing on a corner, that the drivers still seem that they can keep going when your already crossing.

Obviously I try to be safe .

9 times out of 10 they don't need to stop, they just need to slow down a touch.

As a pedestrian I don't like this rule. I'll cross when I think its safe, not when a car driver pauses and waves me across - especially as they are only generally focusing on letting you cross in front of them & aren't looking at what is going on in the other lane & the wider picture of traffic around you.

Exactly and also pay attention to when someone is crossing.

Slow middle lane drivers boil my piss when I'm driving one of our trucks as I'm not allowed in the fast lane. Sadly the type of people that hog the middle lane also tend to be the type that don't know HGVs can't use the outside lane.

Not a soul driving in central london gives this the slightest regard.

It's a figure of speech, PP didn't literally mean you're the luckiest person in the world

what do you do at zebra crossings, or don't you use them? a driver having to stop and give priority at a turning is no different from a driver having to stop at a zebra - in both incidents you can wait for the driver to stop before crossing

Retest every 5 or 10 years as mandatory would be great, just so people would be compelled to encounter rule changes and to put a check on bad habits. But nothing will prevent the huge entitlement some drivers feel they have to the road.

I get the rule but sometimes...
I drive a road through the town centre in a Saturday and then have to turn left onto a side road to get out of town
You can imagine on a Saturday it's just a constant flow of shoppers and I've sat there for (I timed it) 17 mins before with massive amounts of traffic/buses behind me. Can't turn as no traffic lights and no break in pedestrians

It did have traffic lights but they removed them to make it more pedestrian friendly...

I hope this rule is changed back to how it was, I believe the previous way was in fact safer. I would much rather wait for a clear road and then cross then rely on someone stopping for me.

anotheranotheranotheranother

I do not believe this at all.

Well, good for you!

I thought of this thread today when I was turning left into a side road and a couple were just finishing off crossing it.

I indicated in good time, slowed down gently but then took slightly longer to turn due to the couple crossing. Of course, Mr Big Important Prat in Oversized Bully Car SUV beeped me. I was clearly meant to run them down.

He must have been able to see them.

Exactly. So with impatient sods like that everywhere, the new rules are prone to make them pull out and do stupid things as I discovered, because they just think you as the driver in front are dithering!

Try driving in Bradford. You'd think the rules don't apply here, it's terrifying!

I started cycling again, about 2 months ago, after not doing any for several years. I've noticed that drivers are really much more patient - I often wave them past. A few years ago, they'd often turn left in front of me, blare the horn, pass very close etc.

This is North Tyneside.

What happens if you stop for a pedestrian but there’s a car coming the other way who doesn’t? I stopped for a pedestrian in this situation recently, as per new rule, and a car suddenly came round the corner and entered the junction from the other side of the road but didn’t bother. I like to be as considerate as possible to pedestrians but I worry they’ll think it’s completely safe to go because I’ve stopped and then get flattened.

I’m sure when I was learning to drive many years ago I was told never to wave someone across because you can’t be certain it’s safe, in a similar way to how you’re not supposed to flash your lights at people as a ‘you can go’ signal. I’m very surprised someone did that during their test and didn’t fail.

I was always told pedestrians have the right of way if they are crossing a road to a continuation of the pavement. I've been driving for 50 years and I suspect something like that was in the highway code when I passed my test. Most pedestrians and drivers are sensible about it, pedestrians don't have a death wish and drivers don't want to kill anyone. But as a driver you are the one in charge of a potentially lethal weapon, I see the 'change' more as a clarification.

That's exactly what it was, it's a codification of the type of polite driving that was pretty much the accepted norm

Why would I obey rules that don't apply in the part of the UK where I live?

That will get me rearended.