Highway Code: A sign of the times for the driver's bible

IT BEGAN life as an intimation to the well-heeled habitués of the King's highway, reminding them of the need for civility at all times when behind the wheel. This week marks the 80th anniversary of the first publication of the Highway Code, a book which has become a fixture of bookshelves the nation over, albeit one which few people could claim to have read from cover to cover.

Since its inaugural appearance, the driver's bible has undergone widespread revisions, guided by improvements in traffic management and road safety, as well as wider social developments. Long gone, for instance, is quaint and archaic advice regarding horse-drawn carriages, supplanted by instructions on how, when and where a mobile phone may be used in a car.

Yet, throughout its history, an appeal for respect on the part of drivers has lent the Code a sense of constancy, no matter how complex the driving experience - or modern life - has become.

Take the introduction to the 1931 edition, penned by Herbert Morrison, the then transport minister and the grandfather of a certain Peter Mandelson, which could easily apply today. "The Highway Code," he wrote, "is intended as a supplementary guide to the proper use of the highway, and as a code of good manners to be observed by all courteous and considerate persons."

For all that it sought to cultivate mankind's more genteel aspects, however, it was a grisly and uncomfortable truth which gave rise to the Code's inception.

In the year of its introduction, when there was less than a tenth of the number of cars on the road that there are today, the number of fatalities was more than double the current toll.

Despite the 1903 Motor Car Act which introduced driving licences, it was evident greater action was required, with more than 7,000 deaths yet just 2.3 million vehicles. An alarmed Royal Commission on Transport moved to replace the eccentric system of hand signals hitherto used by motorists with something more orderly.

It recommended that the Ministry of Transport issue a "Code of Customs" advising how the highways might be used safely. Soon the idea was enshrined in the 1930 Road Traffic Act, before being unveiled to the public on 14 April, 1931.

Largely devised by Mervyn O'Gorman, a stalwart of the Royal Automobile Club's motoring committee and one of Britain's most lauded aeronautical designers, the Code ran to 18 pages, retailing for a single old penny.

An enthusiastic Morrison urged motorists to pay heed, declaring: "It is just as ungentlemanly to be discourteous or to play the fool on the King's highway as it would be for a man to push his wife off her chair at the Sunday tea table and grab two pieces of cake."

Written in brisk officialese, the lion's share of the publication was reserved for hand signals.Those drivers about to stop or turn left, for example, were told to "extend the right arm with the palm of the hand turned downwards" before moving said arm "slowly up and down, keeping the wrist loose".

Some of the guidance appears remiss with the benefit of eight decades' hindsight, such as the suggestion that drivers ought to use their horn when overtaking.

Nods, too, are given to predecessors of the motorcar. Those at the helm of a pony and trap are told for the first time how to indicate a turn. "Rotate the whip above the head," the code states, "then incline the whip to the right or left."

Yet perhaps the most notable aspect of the 1931 guide is not what it contains but what it omits. Drivers today might be shocked to find no references to road signs, stopping distances, traffic lights or mirrors.

Such matters would gradually find their way into the Code throughout its many incarnations. It was not until 1954 that the pamphlet featured the now ubiquitous triangular warning signs. The advent of motorways in the late 1950s, meanwhile, saw the fifth edition of the Code tackle manoeuvres such as exiting a slip road.

Having undergone 15 revisions, the current version of the Code is a weightier tome than its 1931 counterpart. The 2.50 book features a new section for novice drivers and warns motorists against smoking at the wheel. The Code, which is also incorporated in the Driving Standard Agency's theory test book, topped Nielsen BookScan's chart of bestselling paperback non-fiction books of 2010.

1 You have to park on the road in fog. You should

a Leave sidelights on

b Leave dipped headlights and fog lights on

c Leave dipped headlights on

d Leave main beam headlights on

2 What is the shortest overall stopping distance on a dry road at 60mph?

a 53 metres

b 58 metres

c 73 metres

d 96 metres

3 In which three of these situations may you overtake another vehicle on the left?

a When you are in a one-way street

b When approaching a motorway slip road where you will be turning off

c When the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right

d When a slower vehicle is travelling in the right-hand lane of a dual carriageway

e In slow-moving traffic queues when traffic in the right-hand lane is moving more slowly

4 At puffin crossings, which light will not show to a driver?

a Flashing amber

b Red

c Steady amber

d Green

5 You are following a vehicle on a wet road. You should leave a time gap of at least

a One second

b Two seconds

c Three seconds

d Four seconds

6 What colour are the reflective studs between a motorway and its slip road?

a Amber

b White

c Green

d Red

7 You must not sound your horn

a Between 10pm and 6am in a built-up area

b At any time in a built-up area

c Between 11.30pm and 7am in a built-up area

d Between 11.30pm and 6am on any road

8 You are in a collision on a two-way road.You have a warning triangle with you. At what distance before the obstruction should you place the warning triangle?

a 25 metres

b 45 metres

c 100 metres

d 150 metres

9 In which of these situations should you avoid overtaking?

a Just after a bend

b In a one-way street

c On a 30mph road

d Approaching a dip in the road

10 You are following two cyclists. They approach a roundabout in the left-hand lane. In what direction should you expect the cyclists to go?

a Left

b Right

c Any direction

d Straight ahead

ANSWERS: 1 No vehicles carrying explosives; 2 Overhead electric cable; 3 Side winds; 4 No through road; 5 Risk of grounding; 6 Level crossing without barrier; 7 Zebra crossing; 8 Traffic on the main carriageway coming from right has priority over joining traffic; 9 Two-way traffic crosses one-way road; 10 Vehicles may pass either side to reach same destination