The Sun reports that the Highway Code is 80 years old – then goes on to take the pee in typical Sun fashion.
Road signs were a bit different back then, and a lot of consideration was given to road users who might be riding or moving animals, or who might be riding vehicles other than cars.
For example, you are advised that if you’re a drover (someone who moves cattle and sheep around on foot) and have someone with you, you should send him ahead so he can warn traffic.
Of course, back then it was customary to use the horn to let people the other side of a bend that you were coming. This gives The Sun all the opportunity it needs to say that a good PARP was all you needed, instead of MSM.
The juveniles who work for The Sun have no concept of anything that happened more than about 10 years ago and take the rise accordingly, in the mistaken belief that it’s humour. Well, it is to other juveniles.
Throughout the history of driving, the current version of the Highway Code has been vital. Back in the 30s the advice it gave was absolutely current. Some of the advice even back then still has validity today if you’re a half decent driver. A couple of years ago I was driving down a country lane and rounding a bend found the road blocked with sheep. A similar thing happened last year driving between Plumtree and Keyworth, as they were moving sheep from a field on one side of the road to the farm on the other. And more than once that stupid cow in Wysall has got out of its field to chow down on the Hawthorns the other side.
Of course, the kind of people who work for The Sun would probably have difficulty recognising a sheep, let alone dealing with a whole flock of them.
EDIT 18/4/2011: This article in the Express also makes interesting reading.