Junctions are the most dangerous places on Britain’s roads, but with 14 different Highway Code rules it’s often difficult to know who has right of way.
Cycling UK is calling for a simple change for behaviour round junctions. Whether you’re cycling, driving or walking – whoever is going straight ahead has right of way.
Find out more and how to help make this happen at: https://cyclinguk.org/highwaycode
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40 Comments
great idea and could be backed up with mini zebra crossing without the belisha beacon to back up the priority to straight ahead movements
Basically whatever a driver in a car does is wrong. You lot are fascists.
Im a cyclist and a truck driver. This doesn't make sense. This relys on people using indicators and being patient.
I think giving cyclists approaching from behind on the left, priority over turning cars is absolutely INSANE and will lead to more accidents.
Priority, not Right of Way. Very different!
There is absolutely no way am going to chance it going up the inside of the car that is indicating to turn left And love how all the videos are on a nice clear day let see this when it raining and dark.
I like this idea, but….
0:55 is a lorry drivers nightmare. If you're on a bike and something is turning left ahead of you, go the hell around. Coming down the inside is suicidal – even if this was the law, you cannot have people nipping up the inside, expecting people already about to turn to see you, as in many cases they would have already done their mirror checks and started the manoeuvre.
The problem is that some drivers will still argue the point. "I thought the cyclist was turning left because they were so far over to the left" will be the response. If you bring a new rule in you need to educate all parties for it to work and there will always be bad drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
Excellent idea, makes sense to me.
I had to rewind that clip to figure out what was going on. At first glance it looked like the cycle undercut the car turning left to go straight. Which is a death sentence. On second watch the car looks to have overtaken the car at the junction it wanted to turn left on. Which is also a huge no no.
Our roads are most definitely car-centric tipping the balance to favour pedestrians and cyclists is a must if we are to promote these greener, healthier forms of travel.
The pavement is just the very slow lane, with the cycle lane being moderate. You wouldn't cut up a car in the slow lane of a highway to turn a sharp left. Don't do it with cyclists or pedestrians. Simple enough.
Isn’t there a give way line on the road where the car is turning in anyhow?
Your video, of a mini overtaking a cyclist just before a junction, should be shown to show that you should not overtake just before turning left. What it could imply is that it is ok for a cyclist to overtake a car turning left on the inside. Such behaviour would, of course, be suicidal.
Whatever happened to "look before you step out" or "don't pass on the left"? This is a poor rule change – has everyone become so incapable of taking responsibilty of themsleves ?!
If it's "often difficult to know who has right of way" then you shouldn't be using the road. If anything the rules should change to make it an offence to pass an indicating vehicle.
Left hooking is when someone passes then turns immediately in front of someone else, not when the roaduser ahead turns.
When cycling I always give a shoulder check when approaching side roads, when walking I look both ways before crossing, and when driving or riding I use the mirrors before turning.
Fully support this! Other change that's proposed that I've taken into my own hands and found drastically helpful is not riding in the gutter and rather making myself visible from further away by riding in the middle of the lane. Fewer close overtakes, gives more time to other road users to evaluate when to overtake and lower risk of me being run off the road. Fingers crossed these rules go into the code and there's a big publicity upon the change.
I remember working at Wimbledon with some Aussies on the crew and they just couldn't understand why they had to give way to vehicle traffic when they were crossing a junction as a pedestrian. It makes sense. If you're driving or riding and you want to make a left or right turn into a junction, you have to slow down anyway…
This video assumes that idiot cyclists follow the highway code. They don't.
Do you want safer streets to cycle on? Find out how you can support our vital campaigning work: https://www.cyclinguk.org/cycle-campaigning
Cant just be me that thinks the woman with the pram just walking straight out into the road like that has a death wish for herself and her baby.
Regardless of road rules / rights of way acting like that is just madness.
Is this a spoof/joke video?
the current highway code states "watch out for pedestrians crossing a road into which you are turning. If they have started to cross they have priority, so give way" so now cars will have to give way when pedestrians are standing on the kerb waiting to cross. theyre going to need a big advert campaign to make drivers aware of this change
That is a terrible video from Cycling UK. Surely no one from CUK would advocate the cyclist undertaking the car while it waits for the pedestrian to cross at 0:56? The cyclist should just wait behind the car.
There is also the repeated use of "right of way" which is not helpful. There is no such thing in this context, only "priority". HC rules do not usually use the right-of-way term at all, and it doesn't appear in the proposed new HC wording.
Think again CUK.
Cant wait to get hit by a car 🙂 who fails to see I am walking straight – I predict it will be a taxi in the city centre
Here a few things I notice when cycling and driving and walking. How many idiots looking at mobile phones including folk with prams don't pay attention. When I was young it was stop look and listen. The woman with the pram could become the victim of a joyrider. Next how about enforcing idiots on bikes(not cyclists) fines who jump lights, use pavements(not shared cycleways) and generally cycle with undue care and attention. Next ban drunk drivers and drug drivers for life. The amount of weed coming out of vans and cars is terrible. If you're high while cycling then bike crushed and ten thousand pound fine also if you're intoxicated the same. The main aim is cooperation with eachother and looking out for one another. We are all trying to get somewhere. Best advice I can give is don't be a cunt
Yeah, tell that to the car and van drivers who NEVER read the highway code once they have passed their test. Unfortunately drivers of cars and vans are not the ones who suffer for their selfish actions. A few changes to the highway code will make absolutely NO DIFFERENCE to safety on our roads. The only thing it will do is perhaps make it fractionally less difficult to get a conviction but even that effect will be so tiny as to be negligible.
This is propaganda by the cycling lobby that does not care too hoots about the stress it is causing for motorists who it seems to regard as evil and sub-human. No motorist wants to injure a pedestrian or cyclist. No one wants to have that on their conscience. We are human beings. If we see someone walking out into a road without looking out for themselves on the assumption that vehicles will always see them and stop, that is supremely foolish, and a moral hazard: The abdication of personal responsibility, throwing the entire burden of responsibility for your safety onto other people, who you want to hold to a higher standard than you are prepared to accept for yourself.
It's December 2021, and this is actually about to be implemented in to the Highway Code.
This is a terrible idea.Normally when driving a motor vehicle and turning left being ahead with indicatur turned ON cyclists or like electric scooters users knowing that vehicle at front of them they do not slow down.They ram through.Also cyclists are not required to know road rules and pass any thests, neither they need form of insurance. No responsibility of any damage created.
Many road users forget to switch lighrts ON.Sadly majority are cyclists thinking that in the darkness are seen with ease.Also when changing lanes, no streaching out the hand, no looking over shoulder.
1,5m when overtaking?Good luck with that in big cities like London where already traffic is so slow because of cyclists routes.Making roads narrow is such place as London witll only impact speed of all road users.
How is that that driver of bigger vehicle must care more about smaller users if they they act in rectless way exploiting position being more vunerable.
This rule of whoever goes straight ahead yhas more priority is terrible.As I mentioned before turning left and making sure 20 cyclists will pass me on LH will make all 20 cars to wait.This will generate huge traffic jamms.This will make companies to rise the prices as less jobs will be done in same time.
Also it will be quicker to walk then take a bus.Pollution will go up as you keep more vehicles waiting to enable cyclists to pass.
Sod that….i need to break hard because a twat walks across the road texting… nope. Also people on push bikes give way to people on foot…!! what planet are you living on, they dress in black, no lights and go though red lights. I stick to the normal rules of the road thanks
That’s all well and good. That is until someone on the path, wearing black, with headphones on, on a rainy night and a on a dark street, just steps out in front of you and your expected to see them and stop in time. This exact situation happened to me the other night, he was, pretty much, invisible.
I can see this causing more accidents in certain areas.
Holy fuck 0:49 is SO dangerous, how the heck has this law passed!? That van is going to hit her 100% or honk his horn and shes going to shit her pants. Thats a deathtrap
I agree that a cyclist has right of way here as he is on the road heading straight. The pedestrian being given right of way at the junction is ludicrous. They should wait and this will harm more people than help if pedestrians just walk into the road assuming a driver will stop.
I'm not a fan of the pedestrians having right of way. I spend as much time on foot as I do in the car and I would rather wait until there are no cars indicating to turn before I cross at a junction. And I'd prefer it if pedestrians did the same when I'm driving. I'd be interested to see how many accidents this causes as the car stops to give way to a pedestrian and the car gets rear ended.
I don't think this rule is simple at all and requires too much of a habitual change to be successfully adopted. On paper looks great, yes, but will cause confusion on the roads. A much more intuitive change would be, in my opinion, to correlate right of way with physical space occupied by users (pavements and roads are at different levels/heights)
At 0:48 a woman pushing a baby carriage walks out onto a road without looking for traffic. In doing so, she abdicates responsibility for her safety, thrusting the entire burden onto the motorist. This removes one essential layer of protection from the process. Safety depends on layers of protection. Together, they reduce risk. But if some participants abandon their responsibility, that dramatically increases the risk.
Cyclists say motorists see themselves as 'entitled' and should see driving as a privilege. So should CYCLISTS. They should THINK about that when they routinely run thru red lights in Cambridge, and routinely ride in stealth mode at night (no lights, dark clothing). It is also a privilege they have, to never do a cycling proficiency test, never have seen a Highway Code in their lives, never have insurance, and pass all their burdens onto motorists. You have to be a motorist to know how often the only reason cyclists survive is BECAUSE of motorists. And yet we get derided as sub-human.
from where is this nonsense about "whoever" is going ahead, has the right of way??? That's a BLATANT Lie. IN Europe, right of way belongs to the vehicle in front of you, if you are cycling behind a car, you'll have to stop so the car can make it's turn as the car was in front of you. Pedestrians have right of way ONLY if there is a zebra crossing. or a traffic light. UK's cyclists and pedestrians are the worst I ever met and seen. Pedestrians don't even look and start crossing the road. Cyclists who think they have more rights than others, just because they want to cycle on a road and not to be injured. Lol.
At 0:49 the van is positioned part way thru making its turn. Implies driver has already decided to turn and is doing so. Woman is caught by surprise because she only looked AFTER her baby carriage was on the road. This is irresponsible. Afterwards, driver gives her a thumbs-up. For what? Neglecting her responsibility to look out for her own safety and that of her child.
Furthermore, the van is in a position in which it would be blocking any cyclist who wants to go straight on, simply because its driver has ALREADY made the decision to turn (implying he was caught by surprise by the woman). Had he considered that the woman would have walked straight into the road, he would NOT have begun his turn, he would have to (a) wait for her to walk across and (b) watch out for any cyclists coming and ONLY when COMPLETELY clear should he BEGIN his turn.
Accidents are avoided by ALL participants acting defensively. Participants who lazily pass the burden of responsibility onto others are effectively saying they have higher expectations of other people than they do of themselves.
If you are a pedestrian following the new rule that you can walk straight across a side street because of your new-found priority, would you (a) walk in front of the lead car waiting to pull out of the side street or (b) take a few extra seconds to walk behind it? I have NEVER in my life walked in front of a car waiting to pull out. I ALWAYS walk behind them. But this new rule encourages walking in front. That is completely insane. ALSO: A car can pull right up to the give-way or stop line. So a person walking in front of the car will actually be on the main road. This matter is NOT clarified in the Highway Code changes, which seem to have been written by someone with no ability to second-guess how people will behave in real life.
Why tell drivers to give 1.5m clearance when overtaking cyclists then say its ok for cyclists to squeeze past cars and buses (warning on buses telling them NOT to overtake) on the nearside when they want to go straight on.
Telling cars to give way to pedestrians at junctions is not mandatory as highway code states cars SHOULD stop.
When is it going to made madatory for cyclists to wear safety helmets and hiviz jackets?
All Scotish buses have warnings on the back of buses telling cyclists it is dangerous to undertake them. Cyclists will go on the sidewalks to achieve which way they want to go.
The new dangerous rule about junctions, does this appy to round abouts, they are junctions?