![]() 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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