A FAULT IN THE LATEST HIGHWAY CODE i " MAY I,
Page 46
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as editor of the handbook "The Motorist's Law of the Road," draw attention to an error in the new Highway Code?
On page 26, under the heading, ." The Law's Demands," the Code states: "If you are involved in an accident you must . . . if a person is injured, produce your certificate of insurance or security to a police constable or anyone who has with reasonable grounds required its production."
This is incorrect. The Road Traffic Act of 1930, quoted by the Code, does not require production of the certificate to anyone other than the police. It states only that unless the certificate he produced at the time of the accident (to a police constable or to some person having reasonable grounds, etc.) then the accident must be reported, and the certificate then produced.
My correspondence shows that there is a good deal of misunderstanding generally as to the proper procedure in cases of accident. It is unfortunate that an official publication issued under the authority of Parliament should add to the confusion, particularly as the point arises only in circumstances already more or less distressing.
The legal requirements are, of course, correctly shown in my own and other established handbooks, the accuracy of which, incidentally, is thus unjustifiably brought into question.
F. FOTHERGILL DAVIS, Editor, The Motorist's Law of the Road." London, W.C.2.