THE HISTORY OF THE HIGHWAY CODE
By Ellie Priestley |
21st July, 2020
In 1931, HM Government published a new book for ‘ the instruction and education of all road users as to their duties and obligations to one another and to the community as a whole’. The Highway Code was a result of the 1930 Road Traffic Act, which also made careless driving an office and obliged motorists to carry third party insurance. At that time, there were just 2.3 million motor vehicles in the UK, but the driving test still lay four years in the future.
Herbert Morrison, the then Minister of Transport, hoped the 18-page book would serve as ‘a supplementary guide to the proper use of the highway. It was to serve as ‘a code of good manners to be observed by all courteous and considerate persons’. The first edition also contained advertisements for the AA, The Autocar and The Motorcycle magazines, BP, Castrol Motor Oil, Motor Union Insurance and the RAC.
The original ‘directions for the guidance of road users’ did not refer to mirrors, traffic lights, stopping distances, or road signs. However, motorists were helpfully advised ‘when you decide to overtake other traffic sound your horn unless you are satisfied that such a precaution is unnecessary’. It should also be noted that a car might not be equipped with a speedometer, as they were not mandatory until 1937.
In 1934 a revised Code included the last-named (albeit a mere ten signs) in addition to warnings about driving under the influence of alcohol. The government issued a third edition in 1946, and the back cover now demonstrated “Stopping distances”. The fourth edition of 1954 featured an introduction by the Minister of Transport hoping its advice would be followed by ‘all sensible and public-minded people’
Code No. 4 was the first to feature colour illustrations and a first aid section -
As a sign of changing traffic conditions, it dispensed with advice concerning signals for horse-drawn vehicles. This was a sad loss, as the previous book featured drawings of an Alfred Hitchcock look-a-like waving a whip.
The cost of the fifth edition, published in 1959, was now 6d but it was the first to include instructions for how to use the new motorways -
The M1 was due to open on the 2nd November and the Preston By-pass commenced operating on the 5th December 1958. Rule 74 was a vivid reminder of some of the bad practices of drivers at that time. ‘DO NOT REVERSE OR TURN IN THE CARRIAGEWAY OR CROSS THE CENTRAL RESERVATION’. Ironically, in the days before the barriers, the police were often the worst offenders at making U-turns on the M-Way.
In 1968 HMSO published the sixth edition (1/3d), which was re-issued in 1974 (price six New Pence). This is the Highway Code that I recall from my childhood with its green cover and photographs of die-cast Morris 1100s - and is somewhat of a transitional document in terms of British motoring history. The road signs now follow the European pattern, and there is advice concerning level crossings with automatic barriers (which debuted in 1961) and Pelican Crossings (1969). However, Rule 36 still refers to ‘bells’ of emergency service vehicles and the police constable on point duty looks though he belongs in a black & white Scotland Yard film.
Today the Highway Code encompasses 135 pages, but one rule cited in the third edition remains as accurate today as it was in 1946 – ‘allow for other people doing something silly at any minute’…
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