Highway Code Anniversary Edition

To mark the 80th anniversary of The Highway Code, TSO, official publisher for the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) is publishing a replica of the very first edition. The Highway Code is the official guide to using the roads safely and responsibly and has helped to save thousands of lives over the last 80 years.

In the same year that the electric guitar was invented and the Empire State Building was completed, the first edition of The Highway Code was published in a bid to reduce the number of accidents on Britain’s roads. The Highway Code: 1931 Anniversary Edition is an exact replica of this first edition, complete with a note of introduction from the Minister of Transport at the time.

Despite the number of motor vehicles on Great Britain’s roads increasing from just 2.3 million in 1931 to more than 34 million today, the overriding message of The Highway Code remains the same. The very first edition in 1931 was introduced by the minister of transport as ‘a code of good manners to be observed by all courteous and considerate persons’ and urged drivers to put safety first.

Other aspects of the guide have, however, changed considerably. For example, in the 1931 edition there is no reference to road signs, stopping distances, traffic lights or mirrors and drivers are advised to sound their horn when overtaking. Much of the original guide is given over to hand signals, considered to be the primary issue for road users in the days before indicators were universal, and there is also a section devoted to horse-drawn vehicles, including advice on how to rotate a whip above your head to indicate which direction the vehicle is about to turn. Nowadays, advice on how to cross the road fills a whole chapter, but originally it only merited a paragraph.

The 1931 edition of The Highway Code is also available from TSO in a pack with the current edition of The Official Highway Code.