Everything you need to know about the Highway Code 2021 updates
The Highway Code has been given an extensive update to improve road safety and provide better guidance for drivers who use motorways.
This 2021 Highway Code is published by the DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) and applies to England, Scotland and Wales. The new and updated rules come into force today - 14 September - and include new guidance on variable speed limits, smart motorways, rest breaks and towing.
Importantly, the Highway Code has been updated to remind drivers of the basic legal necessities of road use, which includes having a valid driving licence and suitable vehicle insurance in place. The 2021 guidance also reminds road users that motorway emergency areas and hard shoulders should not be used for rest breaks.
Other changes include updated rules and images on motorways where the hard shoulder becomes an extra lane during periods of congestion. The Highway Code also provides improved advice on areas that are usually enforced by cameras, including variable speed limits and lane closures that are identified by a red X on an overhead gantry.
Rule 98 now makes it clear that reduced speed limits may apply when a vehicle is towing a trailer or caravan. Drivers are also warned that vehicles that are towing should never be in the outside lanes on motorways. Drivers are also reminded to use towing door mirrors and to check their trailers are in a roadworthy condition, including tyres, lights and brakes.
Other important changes include Rule 126 that now clearly states what tailgating is, how it occurs, why it is dangerous. Drivers are reminded that tailgating is an offence, punishable with a fine and licence penalty points.
Updates to Rule 253 includes changes to the provisional licence, which allows learner drivers to use the motorway when they are accompanied by an approved driving instructor and are driving a car displaying red L plates (or D plates in Wales). Rule 263 has been revised to ensure drivers understand it is illegal to reverse along any part of a motorway, including slip roads, hard shoulders and emergency areas.
In total, there are 33 rule updates and two new rules in the 2021 Highway Code. The DVSA has also added new images to make it easier for drivers to recognise emergency areas on the motorway and what to do if they breakdown in a live traffic lane on a smart motorway.
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Martin Johnson on 16 September 2021
Apparently the revised Highway code will now tell me what to do if i breakdown (on my motorcycle) on a live traffic lane on a smart motorway...well, i think i already knew...start praying for my life especially if i am no where near the ridiculously short and infrequent emergency layby's! Who ever it was that came up with that idea should be made to demonstrate in person ''what to do!'' and see how long they survive. Crazy idea.Martin
poisondwarf001 on 16 September 2021
100% agree with Martin JohnsonContax139 on 16 September 2021
If you breakdown in the right hand lane you could be risking your life more if you try to cross 3 lanes of fast moving traffic to get to a hard shoulder, hit your hazard lights and hope the i****s behind are awake and concentrating, not driving too close, if you can get out do so and get forward of your broken down vehicle in case it gets hit. Just the same risk on normal motorway with hard shoulder as a smart motorway, the old motorway does not have lane warning by red X so no help at all. I can't see the fuss about smart motorways although I would like a permanent hard shoulder to stay, it's not totally safe, many have been hit and killed while on hard shoulder by drivers lack of concentration so can't blame the roads only the bad drivers.
Pamal Sharma on 16 September 2021
I second that!
Pamal Sharma on 16 September 2021
Sorry. This is reply to the wrong thread - it scrolled up on more when I pressed reply.. I think the so called "smart" motorways are actually death traps. Deaths have already happened. One of the factors that made motorways safer was the hard shoulder.
Edited by Pamal Sharma on 16/09/2021 at 21:25
Pamal Sharma on 16 September 2021
I second this message @Martin JOhnson & @Posisondwarf
Edited by Pamal Sharma on 16/09/2021 at 21:26
old git!! on 16 September 2021
I think that the vast majority of the ‘revision’ to the Highway Code is basically already in place in the mind of the road user. Unfortunately, a substantial number of users do choose to ignore it or think they are exempt. As for SMART MOTORWAYS read potential death traps. Just wait until an electric car runs out of ‘juice’ and becomes a locked barrier on a lane. IT WILL OCCUR make no mistake.Perhaps I should seek out another split windscreen side valve two door reliable Morris Minor and resume cheap motoring.
Signing off - old git
Pamal Sharma on 16 September 2021
Spot on, my friend. The only thing I would add is that it will happen AGAIN as it has already happened before.
Dragonetti on 16 September 2021
To "run out of juice" in an electric car you'd have to be as big a p*** as those who run out of fuel in an ICE or diesel. You'd have to ignore so many warnings as in the aforementioned counterparts that you'd only have yourself to blame. Read up what Edmund King of the AA has to say about electric vehicles.Very apt.
Nobody is suggesting that they or their infrastructure are perfect yet but the world is changing and you'll have to keep up eventually or stop driving.
And if you really think that a Morris Minor belongs anywhere on a modern road then heaven help you if you have a major prang in it, your fault or not.
Girton Daisy on 22 September 2021
Well said. But when I said the same about another "classic car" driver who did actually break down I was howled at by an army of classic car enthusiasts. It may be legal to drive a 50 - 60 year old car on a motorway but it certainly isn't sensible. And as for people who run out of juice whether it's diesel, petrol, gas or battery power then they shouldn't be driving anywhere, let alone on a 70 mph road. But driving in the UK today shows that it isn't a better driving test we need, it's an IQ test...Just today on a 4 lane smart motorway with a 60mph limit showing, a bloke in a small red car was tootling along in Lane three with a National Express coach behind him unable to pass because he's not allowed in Lane four but forced to stay at 54mph by the lane blocker...with HGVs undertaking them both!! Cretin!
Dave S M on 22 November 2021
While drivers should be encouraged to move to left hand lanes when conditions allow, the driver doing 54 mph in the 60 mph limit probably was showing 60mph or close to that on their speedometer. I know my Jaguar speedo verses sat nav speed reading would show this discrepancy.
I had the misfortune of driving on the M25 between the A12 and M11 recently and was very disappointed to find that despite very light traffic along the whole of this stretch of road, the variable speed went from 60, to 50, to 40, to 50, to 40 etc causing a degree of bunching up and excessive lane changing as drivers accelerated and slowed down, some more than others and engaged drivers in unnecessary focus on their exact speed rather than their speed and surroundings.
The signs suggested queues ahead, but the only queue I encountered was after we passed the M11, at which point, the speed limit was back to 70mph.
Perhaps this was a one off or, the controllers were trying to slow the flow of traffic approaching the road the other side of the M11.. would be interested to know if they do this.
on 16 September 2021
Motorways are only as safe as the i****s using them a few years ago I was heading north on the M6 south of Manchester and couldn't see 10feet in front because of fog so I'm paranoid that I'm going to get rear ended as I'm doing 55 and praying I don't run into someone who's crawling along but worse than all of that was the cars who where clearly doing 80 or 90 past me I could clearly hear them motorways should automatically reduce the speed limit to 20mph in heavy fogContax139 on 17 September 2021
As a retired Class one HGV night trunk driver I have seen too many pile ups on motorways before smart type came in, years ago police used to lead convoys in fog and black ice times, many cars would come flying past at high speed in r/h lane until they reached the police patrol. Breakdowns and accidents on motorways were always deadly if you did not manage to get to hard shoulder, it's much worse now as so much traffic, people get killed on hard shoulder so how will they stop that. The roads have not changed, it's the drivers that are the problem, keep your distance so you can stop if need be, stick all phones in the boot and make sure you are concentrating, it is more essential today in busy traffic than it was years ago when motorways were much quieter.
Graham Saunders on 17 September 2021
Visibility sensors should be provided at regular intervals along the motorways and their readings transmitted to the overhead gantries setting an appropriate speed limit for the conditions. However, without rigid enforcement you will always get the i****s that don't think it applies to them and will be greatly exceeding the posted limit and rear ending anyone complying.
SM 41 on 17 September 2021
QUITE CLEARLY THIS GOVT DOESN'T CARE ABOUT PEOPLE LIVESContax139 on 17 September 2021
The government are not the problem it's the people who can't drive safely, it's only the drivers that have any control so stop trying to blame the government. I can't find any problem with the smart motorway that was not same for normal motorway, I do agree with keeping permanent hard shoulder but it does nothing for safety if your car fails in r/h lane with other lanes full of traffic, more dangerous trying to creep across lanes of traffic with dead car.
DLDLDL on 17 September 2021
When a government attempts to gain capacity "on the cheap" (by converting Hard shoulders to running lanes) I DO see them as the "problem".
They are disingenuous with their safety data saying that "smart motorways are safer". Fitting gantries and speed cameras etc does make people drive within the speed limit (and probably reduces tailgating - if you think you are being "watched") - so that will increase safety; but getting rid of the hard shoulder then throws away most of those gains!
We should get rid of the "Smart" designation - "controlled" or where appropriate "monitored" would be better descriptions - and the presence (or not) of a hard shoulder should be a separate consideration that determines whether a motorway is safer or less safe.
Yes people do get killed on the hard shoulder, but being broken down on the hard shoulder is a darned sight safer than being broken down in a running lane. With a hard shoulder it is also easier for Highways Agency or Police (or approved breakdown operators) to reach you and attend to you. And if there is an accident the hard shoulder is often the only way to get emergency (Police Ambulance Fire etc) access (assuming some prat has not assumed all hard shoulders are now "running lances"!)
Nickmj on 17 September 2021
The highway code is effectively the i****s guide to using the roads. If you need to be told that tailgating is dangerous or motorway hard shoulders and refuges are for emergency use only etc then you shouldn't be driving. Roads aren't dangerous, drivers are.
Edited by Nickmj on 17/09/2021 at 07:18
Ray Karsan on 17 September 2021
Sir, I guess it is common sense, that the Motor bike does not breakdown and stops on the spot, and one who is riding or driving knows when the vehicle is making funny noise or engine has stopped, so they have time to stop the vehicle on hard soldier...
Martin Johnson on 17 September 2021
It seems you've never ridden a m/cycle and had a rear wheel puncture....if you manage to stay aboard while trying to stay onboard, you stop pretty quickly.
KingRat999 on 17 September 2021
The problem that presents itself to me, is all this smart technology and safety features in new cars these days, people just think they are totally invincible. They are not. It's not cars that cause accidents, it's the drivers behind the wheel who sit there, radio blaring out with not a care in the world. Cars do stop a hell of a lot quicker than they aver used to, but that doesn't mean drivers reactions do the same. And whereas all new cars have touchscreens to operate everything from the radio to air-condition and many many more things, these are downright dangerous in themselves. You have to take your eyes off the road for 2 seconds to adjust heating, or to change radio stations. To me cars have just become far far too complicated. Who really needs electric windows, electric seat, warm seats, a warm steering wheel? Who really needs all this complicated stuff when cars of the 70's were so simple anyone could, and did, work on them themselves. Nowadays you need to be a computer analyst just to find out(if you're lucky) what is wrong with the car. I believe they have all just got far too complicated.DLDLDL on 17 September 2021
Perhaps the greatest safety improvement would be to replace all steering wheel airbags with a massive great spike in the middle of the wheel - on all vehicles.
WilliamRead on 17 September 2021
Still no mention of the dozen or so road cone designs/colours on roads today. I have seen recently; green & purple, blue & white, green & white, white & red (the only one, until recently), yellow & white etc. They obviously mean diferent things.. how are motorists suppposed to know what that is?
Edited by WilliamRead on 17/09/2021 at 14:12
Capt Pete on 17 September 2021
Yes sadly it is true smart motorways are not smart but very dangerousMany years ago they were considered the safest of roads but not now
Another big mistake by our wonderful leaders
Capt Pete on 17 September 2021
Very true pete
Edited by captpete on 17/09/2021 at 14:17
conman on 19 September 2021
if anyone is serious about how dangerous these SMART motorways are and wants to voice their opinion go to - Change.org - they have a petition set up asking for questions to be asked in parliament regarding these dangerous motorways. To date they had over 300,000 signatures it needs to reach 500,000. So don't write here write there.!!!!Bilboman on 19 September 2021
So many rules of the Highway Code are ignored altogether, it's hardly worth updating it. Rule 134 on zip merging, anyone? They're having a laugh; the typical driver would rather eat his own liver than let a Johnny-come-lately in a flash car actually nose ahead in a queue of traffic (Hint: Smart motorways and sudden lane closures might conceivably work if zip-merging was already on drivers' radars, but of course, it isn't. Instead, it.s a case of "He should jolly well have changed lanes 2 miles back and clogged up the road, as I did. Harrumph."
What about 112 (use of the horn), or 110 (headlight flashing)?
Ever turned left and given way to a pedestrian crossing the road at a junction, or is it time for a hard stare and use of the horn instead? (Rule 170).
They might just as well put in a rule about wearing face masks in a cabinet meeting, ahem...
Edited by Bilboman on 19/09/2021 at 19:21
Mark Hirst on 23 September 2021
"Rule 98 now makes it clear that reduced speed limits may apply when a vehicle is towing a trailer or caravan. Drivers are also warned that vehicles that are towing should never be in the outside lanes on motorways". This report appears to be incorrect? It only applies to those sections of motorways with three or more lanes (Rule 265) only the outermost overtaking lane >=3. The same rule as applies for trucks and coaches. Reduced speed limits when towing have always applied although some seem to think when they tow a trailer if they go fast enough it fly's in their slipstream.
Edited by Mark Hirst on 23/09/2021 at 10:46
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