Back in January, motoring lawyer Nick Freeman – known by his nickname Mr Loophole for his ability to clear celebrities of driving charges through technicalities (as well as his long-standing campaign to introduce IDs for cyclists) – predicted that the then-upcoming Highway Code revisions would cause “carnage” and warned that “our roads are going to be much more angry and much more dangerous.”

Speaking on the always well-informed Mike Graham’s talkRadio show (that was sarcasm, just to be clear, but don’t tell Laura Kuenssberg), Freeman argued that the changes – particularly the new hierarchy of vulnerable road users – were “well-intentioned but ill-conceived”.

“The whole point of this is to increase safety,” he said. “We’re all in favour of trying to make our roads safer. Safety doesn’t equal priority. I fear it is going to be carnage. Particularly for the most vulnerable people.

“Pedestrians and cyclists have this sense of entitlement, and they’re now going to have the force of the Highway Code behind it, which will only increase this sense of entitlement. It seems to lack common sense. Wouldn’t it be more sensible to say to those who are most vulnerable ‘you have to share this responsibility as well?’”

Fast forward seven months and it seems that Mr Loophole has changed his tune.

Tweeting this morning in response to the AA’s poll suggesting that over three-fifths of the group’s members hadn’t read the new changes, Freeman said that perusing the Highway Code “should be a legal requirement” and that “there should be an online test for motorists every time a licence is renewed and every time a new Highway Code is published.”

Could someone check if Mr Loophole’s Twitter account has been hacked?

https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-5-september-2022-295707#live-blog-item-37133

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> Back in January, motoring lawyer Nick Freeman – known by his nickname Mr
> Loophole for his ability to clear celebrities of driving charges through
> technicalities (as well as his long-standing campaign to introduce IDs
> for cyclists) – predicted that the then-upcoming Highway Code revisions
> would cause “carnage” and warned that “our roads are going to be much
> more angry and much more dangerous.”
>
> Speaking on the always well-informed Mike Graham’s talkRadio show (that
> was sarcasm, just to be clear, but don’t tell Laura Kuenssberg), Freeman
> argued that the changes – particularly the new hierarchy of vulnerable
> road users – were “well-intentioned but ill-conceived”.
>
> “The whole point of this is to increase safety,” he said. “We’re all in
> favour of trying to make our roads safer. Safety doesn’t equal priority.
> I fear it is going to be carnage. Particularly for the most vulnerable people.
>
> “Pedestrians and cyclists have this sense of entitlement, and they’re now
> going to have the force of the Highway Code behind it, which will only
> increase this sense of entitlement. It seems to lack common sense.
> Wouldn’t it be more sensible to say to those who are most vulnerable ‘you
> have to share this responsibility as well?’”
>
> Fast forward seven months and it seems that Mr Loophole has changed his tune.
>
> Tweeting this morning in response to the AA’s poll suggesting that over
> three-fifths of the group’s members hadn’t read the new changes, Freeman
> said that perusing the Highway Code “should be a legal requirement” and
> that “there should be an online test for motorists every time a licence
> is renewed and every time a new Highway Code is published.”
>
> Could someone check if Mr Loophole’s Twitter account has been hacked?
>
> https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-5-september-2022-295707#live-blog-item-37133

We could supplement that with a Highway Code test at the cyclist’s expense
every time they are fined for a violation.

--
Spike

Many motorists have long foregone the Highway Code for their My Way Code. Keeping up to date on the HC is a responsibility of holding a driving licence but that's clearly an inadequate approach so regular retesting should be a necessity.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> Many motorists have long foregone the Highway Code for their My Way Code.
> Keeping up to date on the HC is a responsibility of holding a driving
> licence but that's clearly an inadequate approach so regular retesting
> should be a necessity.

So you’re saying ‘test one road user- test all road users’.

Cyclists will love that. Not. Petitions galore, protest rides, storming of
the Snake Pass …🙄

--
Spike

While there were fears circulating around the cycling community (probably) that Mr Loophole’s Twitter account had been hacked; alas, the lawyer let us know that it was indeed him behind the phone by also tweeting (link is external): “The new Highway Code poses a serious risk to road safety – and that threat is compounded by the majority of motorists who have not yet read it. Many of the provisions of the Highway Code are advisory and they should be mandatory.”

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> While there were fears circulating around the cycling community
> (probably) that Mr Loophole’s Twitter account had been hacked; alas, the
> lawyer let us know that it was indeed him behind the phone by also
> tweeting (link is external): “The new Highway Code poses a serious risk
> to road safety – and that threat is compounded by the majority of
> motorists who have not yet read it. Many of the provisions of the Highway
> Code are advisory and they should be mandatory.”

It’s a disguised attack on cyclists. Didn’t you spot it?

--
Spike

On Monday, September 5, 2022 at 5:18:26 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> While there were fears circulating around the cycling community (probably) that Mr Loophole’s Twitter account had been hacked; alas, the lawyer let us know that it was indeed him behind the phone by also tweeting (link is external): “The new Highway Code poses a serious risk to road safety – and that threat is compounded by the majority of motorists who have not yet read it. Many of the provisions of the Highway Code are advisory and they should be mandatory.”

There's hope for the old fool yet.