New Highway Code: right of way for cyclists and mandatory blind-spot detection systems for lorries and buses

However, one of the most significant changes for light two-wheeled vehicles comes from a proposal by the FIAB that has been incorporated by the MIT into the final text: the requirement to fit devices to eliminate blind spots on heavy goods vehicles and to detect the presence of pedestrians and cyclists to the sides and rear of the vehicle.

It will be the responsibility of a decree issued by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport – to be adopted within three months of the date on which the Code comes into force, as stated in Article 200 of the text – to identify the categories of vehicles for which the installation of these safety systems will be mandatory. The decree will specify ‘the relevant international categories of vehicles, any mass thresholds, the characteristics of direct and indirect vision devices and of electronic detection and warning systems’ and ‘the procedures and deadlines for bringing already registered vehicles into compliance’.

A second new provision (also the result of a proposal by Fiab) is the requirement for motor vehicles to slow down near cycle lanes: ‘Whilst driving,’ states Article 50, ‘the driver shall reduce their speed (...) in the vicinity of junctions’. And right of way for cyclists is made explicit: ‘Vehicle drivers shall stop and give way’, not only to pedestrians who are about to cross the road or who have already started to cross, but also to ‘cyclists at cycle crossings’ (Article 52).

Further provisions in Article 61: ‘Drivers turning onto another road at the entrance to which there is a cycle crossing must give way to cyclists crossing the cycle crossing or in its immediate vicinity, by slowing down gradually and coming to a halt.’

Fiab, on the other hand, regards the new provisions on the safe overtaking of cyclists as a step backwards: the driver must assess ‘whether there is adequate lateral clearance’ and maintain ‘a lateral safety distance of at least 1.5 metres’, as stated in Article 55. ‘This is the rule adopted throughout Europe, the one we have fought for,’ emphasises Menna. However, the phrase ‘where possible’ has been added to the new Highway Code. An ‘ambiguous and vague term’, comments Menna.

In any case, as stated in the same article, ‘where road conditions do not allow the lateral distance referred to in the second sentence to be maintained, motor vehicles shall overtake by adjusting their speed to that of non-motorised vehicles’.

For their part, cyclists (as well as riders of scooters, motorised bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles) ‘when in the presence of heavy goods vehicles with a gross vehicle weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes, must maintain a minimum safety distance”, near junctions and “whilst the heavy goods vehicle is turning, reversing or changing lanes”. This provision represents a critical issue for Menna. “What does ‘minimum distance’ mean? If a vehicle swerves and hits a cyclist, there is contributory negligence because I did not maintain the ‘minimum distance’. This is a rule that will lead to legal disputes in court.”

Another addition to the new Highway Code concerns competitive cyclists: ‘Provided they do not occupy more than one lane and are not travelling at a particularly slow speed – as stipulated in Article 61, paragraph 7 – they may ride side by side, in a maximum of two rows, forming small groups of no more than eight bicycles’. The groups must maintain a distance of ‘at least fifty metres’ between them, a measure which allows motor vehicle drivers to overtake with ease.