Britain’s roads to be made narrower to stop drivers from overtaking cyclists in latest war on motorists

Road lanes across the country are to become narrower to stop cars overtaking cyclists as part of a new war on motorists, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Official guidance quietly published last week on the Government’s website states that the standard width of a road lane in Britain – which for almost 150 years has been 12ft – is no longer appropriate because of the safety risk posed to cyclists.

Instead, lanes on local roads should either shrink no more than 10ft 8in wide or expand to at least 12ft 10in. Critics say space constraints in towns and cities mean they are far more likely to shrink.

Narrower roads, the guidance says, would make it clearer to motorists ‘there is not enough space to safely overtake cyclists’, while also showing cyclists ‘that they need to ride more centrally’.

The guidance, which was drawn up by Active Travel England (ATE), a Government agency, will be applied to billions of pounds of future road building schemes, the MoS has learnt. Local authorities which defy the recommendations could see reduced transport funding.

The move has angered motoring campaigners, who predict that it will dramatically worsen traffic jams on already clogged roads and provoke more conflict between drivers and cyclists.

Brian Gregory, policy director at the Alliance of British Drivers, said: ‘If you slow everybody down to the speed of cycles on narrow roads that is a huge economic cost to the country in wasted time.

‘The whole idea is just to make driving unpleasant instead of trying to get everybody to co-operate and work together to use roads safely. It’s all about penalising motorists. It’s completely stupid.’

Under the new plans, lanes on local roads should either shrink no more than 10ft 8in wide or expand to at least 12ft 10in

Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: ‘Narrowing our increasingly congested roads for the benefit of a small economic minority of road users makes no commercial or social sense.

‘It will lead to even more congestion, frustration and anger and be a detriment to small businesses and the high street. Active Travel England and the DfT should focus on ensuring cyclists use roads more sensibly, and stop hitting motorists at every opportunity.’ 

Edmund King, AA president and a cyclist, said: ‘It is impossible and impractical to change the widths of all our roads, which have evolved since Roman times.

‘This is not America where wider modern highways and more space means it would be possible to radically change road layouts. UK roads will always require a degree of give and take which can’t just be ironed out by regulations.’

ATE’s guidance follows a change to the Highway Code in 2022, which instructed drivers to leave space of at least 5ft when overtaking cyclists. 

ATE, which is led by former Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman, says motorists using a standard 12ft-wide traffic lane ‘may try to overtake cyclists when there is not enough space’, increasing the risk of collisions. 

Lanes wider than 12ft 10in reduce the risk but ‘may still not be wide enough for motor vehicles to safely overtake cyclists’, the guidance states. In contrast, lanes that are narrower than 10ft 8in make it obvious to drivers that they must be patient and not overtake.

The guidance states: ‘…it is recommended that lanes between 3.25m (10ft 8in) and 3.9m (12ft 10in) are avoided.’

Although the ATE guidance is not legally binding, it is regarded as good practice and councils are expected to follow it.

The Department for Transport said claims that ATE is waging a war on motorists ‘are false and misrepresent the guidance’.

A spokesman added: ‘There has never been legally binding standards for road widths and that remains the case.

‘The Government is absolutely on the side of drivers. Over the past year alone, we invested an extra £500 million to help local authorities maintain their road networks, committed £1 billion to repair bridges, flyovers and tunnels, and gave the green light to over 30 road schemes to improve journeys across the country.’