THE HIGHWAY CODE
THIS Code is put into your hands in the sincere hope that the study and observance of its provisions will make the roads safer and more con- venient for you and all others who use the King's Highway." Such are the opening words with which Mr. Hore-Belisha introduces the new Highway Code which, is now being issued to millions of persons motorists, cyclists and pedestrians—throughout the country.. Here, as in certain other recent official communiques—notably, those of the. Post Office— a State department comes before us not primarily as the stern regulator of our lives, uttering threats, but as . the courteous counsellor offering service. In the simple statements of moral maxims which accompany the more precise rules and references to the law, the Minister of Transport makes his appeal for co-operation and, decency., ". Do not drive in a spirit of competition with other road users. If another driver shows lack of care or good manners, do not attempt any form of retaliation." Such sentences, composed in the style of Marcus Aurelius, indicate the line of approach to the problem which Mr.. Hore-Belisha has sought to pursue.
It is. a problem which has been thrust upon the whole country by sinister circumstances which, taken together, have effects comparable with a series of small wars. A yearly' roll of 7,000 dead and 250,000 people injured in road accidents—such is the more gruesome side of road traffic in our time. There has been nothing like it in history before, , unless we compare it with pestilences in the past or banditry and highway robbery in various periods when law and order were at a low ebb. The coming of the railway train had no such consequences. There were occasional terrible, spectacular accidents, but on the whole, even from the earliest days, railway traffic was well regulated and produced a very small total of accidents. Even flying, apart from military flying, and in spite of occasional crashes, seems to be scarcely more dangerous than road travel, and at present affects far fewer people. The problem arises from the presence on the roads of individually controlled machines, many of them capable of the Speed of railway trains, but not capable of being automatically controlled by guiding rails or—at all
Stages—signals. And it is infinitely complicated by the fact that the same traffic ways are used simultaneously by at least four different kinds of traffic—motors, cycles, horse-vehicles and pedestrians --all , operating, with the least measure of external control, upon individual initiative. If the traffic were all fast, or all medium-paced, or all slow, the problem would be simpler. But few arrangements have yet been made for separating the kinds of traffic. A mob of conflicting elements has been left free to use the roads ; casualties have grown and grown in number ; and now feverish efforts are being made to remedy the situation.
It has been produced, beyond question; by speed, but this is not to say that speed ought to be disallowed or that motorists only are to blame. You cannot forbid speed on all roads when a whole community wants to hurry ; motorists, in these days, must have facilities for reasonable speed, and pedestrians and cyclists have an equal share in the responsibility for making the roads safe., There arc four means of approaching the question all of which must be adopted simultaneously, and it is fair to Mr. Hore-Belisha to state that he appears to have recognized this fact. First, there must b3 suitabh provision for modern transport in the form of suitable roads,' constructed with a view to' safety. This is a matter for the Ministry of Transport and the highwaY authorities throughout the country ; and it demands not only good arterial roads in the 'country, but also good roads in towns and the approaches to towns. The latter at present are .scandalously deficient. One of the most urgent needs in the application of planning to built up areas is the provision of adequate road
systems. •
Second comes the regulation of traffic by policemen or A.A. men and by traffic- signals, the provision of pedestrian crossings, and various measures which may be applied locally by the authorities. Nowhere has a more drastic system of control by such means as these been introdueed than in the London area, and it is worth noting that the recent reductions in casualties were more Satisfactory in that area than elsewhere.
The third way towards safety lies in legislation, imposing various restrictions upon road-users with penalties for offenders—it is, an offence to .exceed the speed limit in built-up areas, or to disobey the traffic lights, or not to have an efficient silencer, or to sound a horn' in towns during the night, or (for a cyclist) to hold on to a motor vehiCle. Some. provisions the existing law are seldom enforced. Also, the Highway Code lays down many rules the breach of which does not in itself render a person liable to criminal, proceedings, though evidence of it may be used against him in court as tending to establish liability.
The fourth means to safety lies in the mobilization of public opinion on the side of a proper use of the roads—such use depending both on correct and skilful driving and on good will. The general good will . to stop the slaughter on the roads must be pre- supposed, but it is thwarted by ignorance and thoughtlessness, and by the callousness of a very small minority. In such a matter as this it is quite right that the Government should enter the field of propaganda, and the Highway Code, which gives exhortation no less than information, is a skilfully devised piece of propaganda. The authors of it— unlike many other authors—are in the happy position of knowing that their work must be read ; no one henceforward can pass the driving test without devoting to it the closest study. But the propaganda should not stop there. It has been suggested that there should be an intensive campaign of advertising, with a view to instructing people in their respective duties as motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, in the Press, on posters, in films, by broadcasting. The public should be trained to co-operate on the roads as footballers on the football field. It is only when the code of the highway is linked to a code of honour and decency that the roads will again become comparatively safe and the casualty lists cease to be disgraceful.
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