1930s Highway Code

[gdaybruce]

I acquired a very early edition of the Highway Code recently. The Code was first published in 1931 and I think the edition I have is probably from around 1933. It cost a whole one (old) penny and ran to 12 pages, plus an appendix covering “traffic signals that every road user should know” and some supplementary notes on things like road signs and traffic lights.

Hand signals take up several pages, including the signs to tell a traffic policeman the direction you wish to go when approaching a junction and the correct use of the whip when in charge of a horse-drawn vehicle to indicate your direction to other road users: “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.” I must give that one a try when next driving the Honda roof down!

Of course, no mention of motorways or multi-lane roads but in other respects much of the advice is as valid today as it was in the 1930s, e.g. “never accelerate when being overtaken.”

The Foreword concludes with the following sage advice:

“Respect for the Code and for the spirit underlying it is so much a moral duty that its practice should become a habit and its breach a reproach.”

Couldn’t have put it better myself!