Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what analysis, if any, they have undertaken in the last five years on the number of people who read the Highway Code; and how many rules are contained in the most recent version of the Code.

The Department for Transport has not conducted any dedicated analysis in the last 5 years on the number of people who read the Highway Code.

Other organisations publish the Highway Code under The National Archives’ open Government Licence. Each year 2.1 million people study and are tested on driving theory, which requires a thorough knowledge of the Highway Code, Know Your Traffic Signs and Driving – The Essential Skills. There are many resources to educate learners from a range of providers, but a survey by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency in 2019 found that 84% of the 16-24 years olds asked said they had read the Highway Code as part of their study.

Sales of official publications of the Highway Code as a book, app or download record 1,313,438 copy sales and downloads in the past 5 years, each of which might be read, passed on or lent out in the case of library copies a number of times.

In the same period 3,673,515 driving theory product sales and downloads were recorded, educating people in the Highway Code and the other official sources. Analytics for the Highway Code on gov.uk show 18,189,854 page views for this period.

There are currently 307 rules contained within the Highway Code.