The Government pledged to use insights gained from a public consultation that involved more than 3,200 people and organisations, to enhance the content and wording of the revised version of the Highway Code. The proposed changes will include:

• Addition of two new rules
• Amendments to 33 existing rules
  
• Six proposed changes to additional information within the Highway Code
  

Changes to the Highway Code will include the following new and additional advice for driving on a smart motorway:

• How road users can keep themselves safe if their vehicle breaks down
• The use of variable speed limits to manage congestion
• The use of the red ‘X’ sign to close lanes and provide a safer area for vehicles and their passengers involved in incidents
• How safety cameras are employed to encourage compliance with speed limits and lane closures
• The availability, appearance and safe use of emergency areas

There will also be a new rule on emergency areas to ensure motorists understand:

• How to recognise an emergency area
• Emergency areas are for emergency use only
• Emergency areas are located along motorways without hard shoulders or where the hard shoulder is used some of the time as an extra lane 

Another new rule will be added to help motorists understand safer places to stop at and understand:

• Hard shoulders provide a smaller amount of protection than other places of relative safety
• The safest place to stop if you breakdown or incident is a location which is designed for parking
• A place of relative safety is where the passengers and vehicles involved in a breakdown or other incident are less likely to be at risk from moving traffic
• Other places of relative safety on motorways and other high-speed roads include emergency areas, lay-bys and hard shoulders
• On motorways and other high-speed roads, the safest place to stop is a service station

Other matters covered by the changes will include information on the dangers of tailgating, driving while being tired, driving an unroadworthy vehicle and advice on towing safely.

Highways England’s head of road safety, Jeremy Phillips, said: “The updates to The Highway Code will help everyone who uses our busiest roads.

Thanks to the input from road users, we have been able to produce clearer guidance on how to use our motorways and major A-roads which will make journeys even safer.

“The new edition of The Highway Code can give everyone on our roads the confidence that they have the knowledge and skills to safely get from A to B.”