Plans have been underway to revise the Highway Code for some time now and it appears that the CTC have been able to coordinate an amendment that prevents cyclists having to use cycle routes, advanced stop lines, cycle boxes and toucan crossings.

The proposed wording now says that use is not ‘compulsory’ but may ‘make your journey safer’ and that you should use ‘cycle routes, advanced stop lines, cycle boxes and toucan crossings unless at the time it is unsafe to do so’.

It’s still a bit ambiguous to me though. I mean, as George Riches infers in his example of an accident claim, how would you necessarily prove it was unsafe at the time?

I’d prefer something that said:

cycle routes, advanced stop lines, cycle boxes and toucan crossings are provided with little thought to their real world application and in many instances are downright dangerous. Use at your own risk.

But that’s not going to happen is it?

(My thanks to the Sussex Muddy@rse MTB Club for highlighting this issue).