14 April 1931: the first edition of the Highway Code is published

On this day in 1931, the Rt Hon Herbert Morrison MP, minister of transport, launched the first edition of the Highway Code

Britain is a very busy place, with almost 39 million vehicles hurtling around on our roads today – 31 million of them cars. It's also a dangerous place. At the last count, over 1,700 people died on Britain's roads, and over 160,000 were injured – 25,000 of them seriously.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.