RAC has issued an alert to all customers amid the biggest update to the Highway Code in four years.
A raft of new rules were introduced on Saturday (January 29), following calls to protect vulnerable road users.
Some additions to the Highway Code include changes to right of way at roundabouts and fines for any motorists who throw cigarette butts from a car window.
READ MORE: Calls for new Highway Code rules to be scrapped after just four days
Roadside assistance and insurance company RAC sent an email to customers on Wednesday, in a bid to "communicate" the new rules "clearly".
RAC's head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said: "These changes to the Highway Code are substantial, so it’s vitally important they are communicated clearly.
"In theory, they should make our roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians, but unless everyone is aware of them, there’s a risk of angry clashes and, worse still, unnecessary collisions.
"Nobody wants to be on the right side of the Highway Code changes but in the back of an ambulance because of confusion on the part of a driver or any other road user."
From a driver's perspective, the RAC said, the biggest changes to the code are:
- creation of a new ‘hierarchy of road users’ that ensures those who can do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to others
- clarify existing rules on pedestrian priority on pavements and when crossing the road
- provide guidance on safe passing distances and ensuring cyclists and horse riders have priority when travelling straight ahead at junctions
Just days after the rules were introduced, there have been calls for them to be scrapped.
Action group Voters for Motors is worried that a new road user hierarchy could actually result in an increased number of road traffic accidents.
Voters for Motors is formed of individuals from organisations like FairFuelUK, the Motorcycle Action Group and the Alliance of British Drivers.
A spokesperson told Mail Online: “Our concerns over the Highway Code include the fact that encouraging the undertaking and overtaking of vehicles intending to turn by cyclists will cause more crashes that drivers will be blamed for under the new ‘hierarchy of road users’."
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