Reason Prevails
Page 22
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E*4 VERY driver should be relieved that the 4 Committee on Road Safety, in its report to the Minister of Transport, ha S rejected the suggestion of Mr. Edward Terrell, Recorder of Newbury, that parts of the Highway Code should be given the force of law. It would have been impossible to devise simple rules that would be satisfactory in law, and they would have been of assistance neither to the public nor to the courts.
It would also have been necessary to have applied them to pedestrians and cyclists, as well as to the drivers of motor vehicles. Many motor users believe that there should be greater control over the conduct of pedestrians, but in dealing with this point the committee takes shelter behind platitude. It merely points out that the creation of new offences, particularly in relation to pedestrians, would probably not be accepted by the public as reasonable.
A long list of recommendations for changing the presentation of the Code is given and it is suggested that some of the items should be published in a separate manual. This new publication would include a braking-distance chart which would set out distances in terms of " average' car lengths."
There is an urgent need to make the public realize that a vehicle cannot be stopped instantly. Published figures should, of course, take account of the distance covered while a driver is reacting to an incident. They might also have reference to well-known stationary objects, such as football and cricket pitches, which many people could visualize more easily than the length of a vehicle.