In 1975, candidates no longer had to demonstrate hand signals.The test was suspended for the duration of World War 2 and didn’t resume until 1 November 1946.There were no test centres in 1935 so you had to arrange to meet the examiner somewhere like a post office, train station or town hall.Mr Beere was the first person to pass the driving test in 1935: he paid the grand total of 7s 6d (37.5p) to take the test.The driving test’s been going for 80 years. In May 2012 The Official Highway Code app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad was launched, priced £3.99. In 2011 the Highway Code joined social networking websites Twitter and Facebook to share reminders of the rules of the road. The 1990s saw a new format taller booklet and the inclusion of a section geared to the new driving theory test, which in the current edition has now become part of the Code itself. Prompted by soaring car crime statistics, the amended version contained advice on vehicle security. The 70-page 1978 edition introduced the Green Cross Code for pedestrians and the new orange badges for people with a disability. After decimalisation reprinted editions cost just 6 new pence. Photographs and 3D illustrationsīy the sixth edition in 1968 photographs and 3D illustrations had been included to help make rules clear and the price had risen from 6 old pence to 1s 3d (6p). It explained such things as how to use exit slip roads and advising drivers to avoid drowsiness by stretching their legs at the parking or service areas. The arrival of motorways in the late 1950s led to the inclusion, in the fifth edition, of a new section on motorway driving. The 1954 Highway Code, complemented by brand new colour illustrations, gave over the back cover to first aid guidance, while the expanded traffic signs section contained the first triangular warning signs. Stopping distances made their first appearance in the third edition, along with new sections giving hints on driving and cycling. Road signsĭiagrams of road signs - just 10 signs in all - were first seen in the second edition, as was a warning about the dangers of driving when affected by alcohol or fatigue. Since those early days, regular revisions of the Code have reflected changes in technology and developments in traffic management and road safety. included advice to drivers of horse drawn vehicles to ‘rotate the whip above the head then incline the whip to the right or left to show the direction in which the turn is to be made.’.contained 18 pages of advice, compared to 135 pages in the 2007 edition.was the only one to carry advertisements, for the AA, The Autocar magazine, The Motorcycle magazine, Castrol Motor Oil, BP, Motor Union Insurance and the RAC.The first edition was published in 1931, it: More than a third of the original 24-page booklet described the various hand signals the police and road users should use, compared to the single page given to the subject in the current edition. Nowadays, advice on how to cross the road fills a whole chapter, but in the early days it only merited a paragraph. For example, in 1931 mirrors were not even mentioned and drivers were advised to sound their horn when overtaking. However, other aspects of the code have changed considerably. Some things have not changed over the years: the very first edition of The Highway Code urged all road users to be careful and considerate towards others, putting safety first. Today there are more than 27 million vehicles on our roads but, thanks to greater public awareness, advances in technology and the introduction of British summer time, only half the number of road deaths occur. When it was first launched in 1931 there were just 2.3 million motor vehicles in Great Britain, yet over 7,000 people were killed in road accidents each year. It’s one of the few books in print that can lay claim to saving thousands of lives. Hundreds of thousands of copies of The Highway Code are sold each year, ensuring that it never leaves the bestseller lists. In 1973 the number of drivers had risen to about 20 million and a centralised computer-based licensing system was brought in to cope with the huge increase in demand for both driver and vehicle licences. But it was only during the 1960s, when cars became more affordable, that motoring really took off. By 1939 this figure had risen to 3 million. In 1921 there were only 1 million drivers in Britain. The fee for the first driving licence, which was obtained over the counter at Post Offices, was 5 shillings (25p).įailure to sign your driving licence with your ‘ordinary signature’ could lead to a fine of up to £5. Overview of road safety in Great Britainĭriver licences were first introduced in Britain by the Motor Car Act, 1903, purely as a means of identifying vehicles and their drivers.Īll motor vehicles had to be registered, display registration marks and be licensed annually at a cost of 20 shillings (£1).
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