The Highway Code is the Department for Transport's rulebook for everyone who uses the road in England, Scotland and Wales. GOV.UK carries the full text free of charge; that page was published on 1 October 2015 and was last updated on 22 October 2025. It opens with three lettered rules, H1 to H3, then runs from rule 1 to rule 307, working through pedestrians, powered wheelchairs and mobility scooters, animals, cyclists, motorcyclists and drivers, before covering light signals, signals to other road users, traffic signs, road markings and vehicle markings. Eight annexes follow, on your bicycle, motorcycle licence requirements, vehicle documentation, the law, penalties, vehicle maintenance, first aid and new driver safety. Northern Ireland has its own separate Highway Code.
Rules worded with MUST or MUST NOT are legal requirements. Each one names the legislation behind it, and breaking it is a criminal offence that can carry a fine, penalty points, disqualification or imprisonment. Every other rule uses should, should not, do or do not. Those are advisory, and they still matter in practice, because the Code states it may be used in evidence in any court proceedings under the Traffic Acts to help establish liability. Giving way to pedestrians on a zebra crossing, and to pedestrians and cyclists on a parallel crossing, is a MUST under rule H2. Giving way to a pedestrian waiting to cross the road you are turning into is advisory.
The Code is amended without a new edition being announced, and several recent amendments only apply in one nation. The revision of 29 January 2022 introduced the hierarchy of road users as rules H1 to H3 and rewrote junction priority and the rules for passing cyclists and horse riders. Rule 149 was tightened on 25 March 2022 to cover all use of a hand-held device. On 17 September 2023 rules 113 and 124 changed because the default limit on restricted roads in Wales moved from 30mph to 20mph. On 10 April 2025 rules 243 and 244 were revised for Scotland, covering dropped kerbs and pavement parking. The change of 22 October 2025 removed the requirement for an 'only' plate beneath the buses and cycles and trams signs.
The multiple-choice section of the car theory test is built on three books: the Code itself, Know your traffic signs and Driving: the essential skills. Booked through GOV.UK, the car theory test costs £23 and the practical test £62 on weekdays or £75 in the evening, at weekends and on bank holidays; the ADI part 1 test is listed at £81 (GOV.UK, checked 6 September 2026). Instructors meet the Code again through DVSA's national standard for driver and rider training, first published on 31 October 2011 and last updated on 20 November 2020, which sets out what you must be able to do to deliver training.
If your school relies on software for pupil revision, lesson plans or progress records, the useful questions are about content dating and ownership. Ask whether any Highway Code material, mock theory questions or hazard clips inside the product show a visible last-reviewed date, and get it in writing who is responsible for updating them after an amendment. Ask how long the Wales 20mph change of September 2023 and the Scotland parking change of April 2025 took to appear in the product. If you teach across nations or near the Irish border, check whether content can be set regionally per pupil or per branch and whether the separate Northern Ireland Code is handled at all. In progress records, check that competency wording is editable. Confirm you can export a pupil's full record with dates, in a format you keep after leaving the supplier.
All rule numbers, amendment dates and fees here come from GOV.UK, specifically the Highway Code guidance and its update history, the theory test revision page, the driving test fees page, the ADI part 1 test page and the national standard for driver and rider training, all checked on 6 September 2026; the Code is amended in place, so verify anything time-sensitive on GOV.UK before quoting it to a pupil.