Highway Code: the poster campaign highlights five rules of the road which are commonly ignored
Transport for London has started a poster campaign around the capital’s transport network that emphasises the Highway Code and key rules designed to protect people walking, cycling and motorcycling.
It is renewed action as part of Mayor’s Vision Zero strategy to eliminate all deaths and serious injuries from the city’s transport network by 2041.
The poster campaign is backed by RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims. Their CEO, Howard Jones, said: “Breaking the rules can break people.
“Our ability to live alongside each other in an increasingly mechanised and fast-moving world, full of distractions and demands, depends upon us accepting rules that benefit us all.
“Dangers can never be eradicated in full, but we know that consensual rules of behaviour, if they are obeyed and respected, enable us to get along with each other, to live our lives side by side, with courtesy, kindness and tolerance for others.
“So let’s play by our rules and stop breaking people.”
Many of the Highway Code’s rules are legal requirements. But a recent survey conducted by TfL showed that there is poor awareness and understanding of the rules.
Only 16% – fewer than 1-in-5 – showed a correct understanding of all five rules, which aim to protect the most at-risk road users. Today, the transport agency said, “TfL is determined to tackle this, as people walking, cycling and motorcycling continue to be most at risk of death and serious injury on London’s roads.”
Of those killed or seriously injured in 2024, 81% – 2,988 people – were walking, cycling or motorcycling.
The poster campaign, which is supported by the Department for Transport, will appear across London and feature on social media channels.
The rules spotlighted by the new campaign are:
- You must stop for people on zebra crossings
- Always let people cross before you turn
- Always let cyclists pass before you turn
- Always stop for people at zebra crossings on cycle tracks
- Cyclists must always stop at red lights
“TfL continues to work closely with boroughs across the capital to invest in the walking and cycling infrastructure needed to enable increases in active travel and keep people walking and cycling safe,” the capital’s transport authority said.
Gentle reminder: TfL’s poster campaign is a poor substitute for proper law enforcement on the city’s streets
“Earlier this year, TfL confirmed £87million funding for London’s boroughs would be ring-fenced to boost investment in safer streets.”
Over the next three years this investment could help to fix dangerous junctions and deliver almost 100 miles of new cycle routes across the capital as part of a continued expansion of London’s Cycleways network. Recent expansion through both borough and TfL delivered routes means that 28% of Londoners now live within a quarter-mile of the cycling network. The network has more than quadrupled in size since 2016, to more than 260 miles.
TfL has also continued to work on its Safer Junctions programme to make life-saving changes at some of the capital’s most dangerous and intimidating junctions. TfL has so far completed work at 45 junctions as part of the programme, with works ongoing at Lambeth Bridge and Battersea Bridge.
Will Norman, London’s walking and cycling commissioner, said: “Making London’s roads safer for everyone is a key priority for the Mayor and this important campaign, supported by the government, is part of the work we’re doing to ensure people are aware of the rules of the road.
“Through the Mayor’s Vision Zero Strategy, we are doing everything we can to eliminate deaths and serious injuries from our roads and investing record amounts in green transport options and initiatives for Londoners across our city as we build a better and safer London for all.”
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Road safety was taught in schools in the 60s and 70s and those (like me) of that era actually had some road sense and self-preservation instilled whether walking or cycling. Today’s target is the motorised road user and the assumption that all road injuries and deaths are their fault. One particularly irritating radio advert focuses on the speed of the vehicle not how the pedestrian (we assume) and not how he/she was hit. Being hit at any speed by a moving vehicle even at 20 mph is harmful. Until pedestrians and cyclists learn some basic road sense Khan’s “Vision Zero” will achieve exactly that: zero.
The Mayor’s Vision Zero Transport Strategy sets out an ambition for 80 per cent of journeys to be made by sustainable modes – public transport, walking and cycling by 2041. It does seem to me to be a slightly optimistic policy aim as it would presumably rely on the road logistics industry completely disappearing. But net zero and peak oil are here so I suppose someone’s got to pay…
Those numbers are personal journeys so don’t include deliveries or freight.
There are no numbers. Just words. I’m just quoting his website word for word. That is what he says. There are no caveats.
Some say that with power comes responsibility, others say might is right. I know which one I prefer.
There are others who say that bad drivers are always seeking to blame others for their own negligence.
‘You must stop for people on zebra crossings’!! FFFS. I doubt the mayor rides anywhere on a bike, but I remember a London mayor who did. Can we have him back, please?
It surely can’t be long before Myers joins Dorries in UnReform…
Boris Johnson has been the Mayor of London, MP and Prime Minister, with that latter role ending with lack of willingness to continue to serve under him by his own ministers.
All that remains is his childhood ambition to be ‘World King’.
If IC starts a petition to get ‘Chelsea Tractors’ banned – I will give you all my support. Absolutely no reason to own one of these absurd vehicles.
About times TfL and Government be come more strict
On the Roads networks. I see so many drivers on mobile
While driving. Speeding more than 20 mph. Driving while
Smoking.
One more rule they should have included:
“* And put your (expletive) phone away. If you can’t be bothered to concentrate, do us all a favour and take the bus.”
Croydon have many danger pedestrians crossing like Coombe lane /North end or White horse road where pedestrians can’t safely pass the road. That needs to be changed!
The sheer entitlement of drivers, who think they own public roads.
Get back to us, John, when you find the first example of a “dangerous pedestrian” writing off a Chelsea tractor whose driver was on their mobile phone.
I think John is lamenting the “drivers first” mentality prevalent at Croydon council means that pedestrian crossings are missing from those locations
Something that always entertains me is how if you go to a zebra crossing drivers of approaching cars will quite clearly rotate their head to the right as they power through the crossing. The old ‘I didn’t see you’. Once you’ve noticed it once you’ll realise how often other drivers do it.
Poster campaigns will achieve nothing. A couple of years ago I was badly injured by someone on an e-scooter. Chris Philp contacted the local police about it. Their response noted how they had done an awareness campaign with escooter users, but surprisingly admitted it had made no difference. These campaigns are just so they can pretend to be doing something.
My question is this: When will we see posters aimed at pedestrians and cyclists? Such as, “Stop, look, listen, make sure it is safe to cross before you step into traffic”. Or, “Red lights apply to cyclists as well”, and my favourite peeve, “Do not move or walk behind a vehicle that is reversing” Incidentally, these are all in the Highway code.
We can make London safer, but everyone has to do their part.
I drive, I ride, I walk. But if you see me running, try to keep up, because something has gone very wrong.
You’ve missed your bus?
The answer is probably along the lines of whenever any of those actions you cite are likely to cause as many serious injuries, or worse, to other road users as careless drivers do.