Editing Road (section)

===United Kingdom===
[[File:Cycle_lane_and_the_A74_at_Mount_Vernon_(geograph_7756232).jpg|thumb|Pavements and cycle lanes form part of the road.]]
In the United Kingdom ''[[The Highway Code]]'' details rules for "road users", but there is some ambiguity between the terms ''highway'' and ''road''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/annex-4-the-road-user-and-the-law|title=Annex 4. The road user and the law - The Highway Code - Guidance - GOV.UK|website=www.gov.uk}}</ref> For the purposes of the [[English law]], [[Highways Act 1980]], which covers [[England and Wales]] but not [[Scotland]] or [[Northern Ireland]], road is "any length of highway or of any other road to which the public has access, and includes bridges over which a road passes".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/27/section/142|title=Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 – 142 General interpretation of Act |work=Legislation|quote="road" – (a) in England and Wales, means any length of highway or of any other road to which the public has access, and includes bridges over which a road passes, and (b) in Scotland, has the same meaning as in the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984}}</ref> This includes footpaths, bridleways and cycle tracks, and also road and driveways on private land and many car parks.<ref name="Direct">{{cite web|url=http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069869|title=The road user and the law|quote=Most of the provisions apply on all roads throughout Great Britain, although there are some exceptions.}}</ref> [[Vehicle Excise Duty]], a [[Road tax|road use tax]], is payable on some vehicles used on the public road.<ref name="Direct" />

The definition of a road depends on the definition of a highway; there is no formal definition for a highway in the relevant Act. A 1984 ruling said "the land over which a public right of way exists is known as a highway; and although most highways have been made up into roads, and most easements of way exist over footpaths, the presence or absence of a made road has nothing to do with the distinction.<ref>Reference listed says 1984, This description is used in several rules going back to at least 1975, The law of real property; Stevens, 1975; Authors – Robert Megarry, Sir Robert Edgar Megarry, Sir William Wade</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hrothgar.co.uk/WebCases/hol/reports/07/44.htm|title=Judgment – Director of Public Prosecutions v. Jones and Another (On Appeal from a Divisional Court of the Queen's Bench Division)|quote=The land over which a public right of way exists is known as a highway; and although most highways have been made up into roads, and most easements of way exist over footpaths, the presence or absence of a made road has nothing to do with the distinction. There may be a highway over a footpath, while a well made road may be subject only to an easement of way, or may exist only for the landowner's benefit and be subject to no easement at all|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100403093123/http://www.hrothgar.co.uk/WebCases/hol/reports/07/44.htm|archive-date=2010-04-03}}</ref> Another legal view is that while a highway historically included [[footpath]]s, [[bridleway]]s, driftways, etc., it can now be used to mean those ways that allow the movement of [[motor vehicles]], and the term ''[[Right-of-way (property access)|rights of way]]'' can be used to cover the wider usage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.4-5.co.uk/practiceareas/index.cfm?id=486|title=Local government law – Highway law |quote=Historically, a highway comprehended any path in which members of the public had the right to pass and re-pass without let or hindrance. The term embraced footpaths, bridleways, driftways and so forth. The advent of the motor vehicle and its peculiar requirements has seen increasing distinctions between paths over which walkers and riders have a right of way and those ways that are predominantly used by motor vehicles. The former may be usefully termed "rights of way" (and are the subject of a separate entry in this web) and the latter may be termed "highways."}}</ref>