Highway Code: Publicity
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of measures taken to raise public awareness of changes to the Highway Code made in 2022, and whether increasing understanding of those changes will be reflected in the implementation of the Road Safety Strategy.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood
Following updates to the Highway Code in 2022, the department ran a THINK! campaign to raise awareness of the changes. This was followed by broader behaviour change campaigns in 2022 and 2023, to help embed the changes and encourage understanding and uptake of the guidance.
The percentage of road users reporting to know either a little or a lot about the Highway Code changes increased from 36% in January 2022 to over 50% in August 2022 and 70% in September 2023, with 86% of road users having heard of the changes by that time.
The Government's new road safety strategy identifies that more work is needed to continue embedding these changes.
The THINK! campaign will continue to run three radio filler adverts encouraging compliance with the guidance to improve safety for those walking, cycling and horse riding. We will also continue to promote the changes via THINK! and Department for Transport social media channels, as well as through partner organisations.
The Road Safety Strategy also sets out further actions to enable safer active travel including supporting councils to provide high-quality, easily accessible active travel schemes across England, and the development of its third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS 3).
As our road environment and technologies evolve, providing education for all road users throughout their lifetime is vital to improving road safety.
To support a Lifelong Learning approach in the UK, the government will publish for the first time national guidance on the development and delivery of road safety education, training and publicity.
Alongside this, the government will publish a manual to support the implementation of a Lifelong Learning approach for road safety.
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