Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the level of understanding among road users of the changes to the Highway Code introduced in January 2022.

The January 2022 changes to The Highway Code to help improve road safety for people walking, cycling and horse riding have been communicated via:

• A factual awareness-raising campaign in February and March 2022, alerting road users to the changes as they came into effect. Further information can be found here: www.think.gov.uk/campaign/highway-code-changes/ .
• A behaviour change campaign which has run in summer 2022 and 2023, to help embed the changes and encourage understanding and uptake of the guidance. Further information can be found here: www.think.gov.uk/campaign/travel-like-you-know-them/.

The campaign has been supported by significant media spend, utilising channels such as radio, digital audio, video on demand and social media advertising.

- The percentage of road users reporting to know either a little or a lot about the Highway Code changes increased from 36% in January 2022 to 58% in August 2022, with 83% of road users having heard of the changes by August 2022.

- The percentage of people who agreed that motor vehicles do have priority on the roads fell from 68% in January 2022 to 61% in August 2022.

- 78% of road users correctly identified the need for a 1.5m gap when passing cyclists in January 2022, rising to 84% in August 2022. Understanding that cyclists may ride two abreast also increased from 30% to 46%. The percentage of drivers reporting that they always leave a 1.5 metre gap when passing cyclists rose from 50% in January 2022 to 58% in August 2022.

- Recognition among the target audience of at least one of the campaign assets was 57% at Phase 1 and 53% at Phase 2. Of the respondents that recognised the 30 second hero assets from Phase 2, nearly nine in ten (84%) said they had done something as a result.