Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of measures to (a) educate drivers on sharing roads with cyclists and (b) foster a safe environment for all road users.

In January 2022, The Highway Code was updated to improve road safety for people walking, cycling and riding horses. The changes aim to initiate a positive shift in road user behaviour by making road users aware of their responsibility to use roads safely and reduce the danger they may pose to others. The changes included the introduction of a “Hierarchy of Road Users”, which places those road users most at risk in the event of a collision at the top of the hierarchy.

Communications to raise awareness of the changes were launched via a factual awareness raising campaign in 2022, alerting road users to the changes as they came into effect. This was followed by broader behaviour change campaigns in the summers of 2022 and 2023, to help embed the changes and encourage understanding and uptake of the guidance. Over £2.4million has been spent on media across the campaign, utilising channels such as radio, digital audio, video on demand and social media advertising.

Campaign outcomes include 86% of road users having heard of the changes by September 2023, and 81% of drivers claiming to leave a gap of 1.5m when passing a cyclist all or most of the time.

We will continue to promote The Highway Code changes on THINK! and DfT social media channels and via our partner organisations.