Highway code

The Highway code indicates the whole of the Loi S and payment S relating to the use of the public highways (Trottoir S, Chaussée S, Autoroute S, etc) by the users (Piéton S, Deux-roues with or without Moteur, Automobile S, etc). It is not a question of a code to the penal direction (like the east, for example, the Labor regulation), but rather of the combination of laws, regulations and rules of Civisme and good manners.

General information

A highway code can contain relative rules:

with qualities or competences which a user must have according to the use that it makes of the public highway (Permis to lead, minimum age, medical examination),
with the characteristics that a Véhicule must have (Homologation vehicles, regular technical control, cover by Assurance of the responsibility for the conducting ,…),
with the way in which a user can use the public highway (to roll on the right or on the left, speed limits, Stationnement, presence of Frein, and bands reflective on the pedals…),
with the way in which the users interact between-them (rules of priority for example),
with the way in which the authorities can impose local rules on certain portions of public highway (indication, Policier,…).

The raison d'être of a highway code is to ensure at the same time the safety and traffic circulation.

The violation of the provisions of the highway code exposes the contravener to sanctions of various levels (of the Amende to the custodial sentence) according to the gravity of the Infraction.

The highway code is not a solidified instrument, since it will vary according to the perception of the authorities and the population of what is important or vital in the regulation (see for example the evolution of the perception of the excess speed in Europe these last years).

Sources

International instruments

Certain rules of bases relating to circulation are contained in Convention of Vienna on the road traffic, signed under the aegis of the the United Nations in 1968. It is in particular this document which makes it possible a motorist to travel abroad with his car without having, at the border, to pass a technical control, to be made register or pass an examination of driving license!

An Européen agreement of May 1st, 1971 came to supplement and reinforce this device, with in particular for effect a standardization of the essential road signs in Europe.

Other more technical agreements exist, in particular on the standardization (relative) of the features of the vehicles or the recognition, by the states, of the technical specifications of other states.

In addition to the international instruments (to which all however did not adhere), the majority of the countries codified to them " code route".

As indicated above, the situation in Europe is relatively uniform. However, in France, the regulation can vary city downtown, in particular for the cyclists.

With the the United States, each State with its own highway code ( traffic codes ), though the federal minister of transport exerts a certain control on the standardization of the road signs and the technical specifications, like on the rules of circulation on the highways inter-states (Interstate highway S).

The direction of circulation

According to the countries, the vehicles are held to circulate on a precise side of the roadway, left or right-hand side. It is probably about the rule of the oldest circulation, because the first regulations go back to more than 200 years, preceding by much the appearance of the motor vehicles.

The reasons for which certain countries chose the left side and others the right-sided to circulate are not known with certainty and must certainly hold as many practical considerations arbitrary. One can explain, in England for example, the choice of this direction by very old utility reasons: while rolling on the left, the swords in their sleeve were not entrechoquaient. From this fact, much of old British colonies continue to roll on the left. It would be to be even opposed to the English whom Napoleon would have required that one rolls on the right, in France, measurement which extended to the unit from continental Europe.

In all the cases, one estimated in 2005 qu ' approximately one the third of the world population rolled on the left, the two other thirds on the right.

Here the list of the countries which roll on the left:

Anguilla, South Africa, Antigua, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Chanel Islands, Cyprus, Dominique, Fiji, Grenade, Guyana, HongKong, Mauritius, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Island Coconuts, Cooke Islands, Falkland Islands, Norfolk Islands, Pitcairn Islands, Turk Islands and Caicos, United States Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, They Solomon, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Isle de Man, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Macao, Malaysia, Malawi, Malted, Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Uganda, Pakistan, Guinea Papoua-News, the United Kingdom, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Co.-Lucie, St-Helene, St-Kitts and Nevis, St-Vincent, Surinam, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Authorized maximum speed

See too

Internal bonds

Highway code (France)

External bonds

Convention of Vienna on the road traffic.
Highway code (Belgium).
Highway code in France (text of reference on Legifrance): lawful part.
Highway code in France (text of reference on Legifrance): legislative part.

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