to think its just not safe for pedestrians, cyclists and horseriders on country lanes anymore?

[Owllady]

I've already lost my dog after she was hit by a car on this lane (on lead, on a verge btw) since this I have actually limited when/if I will walk on the lane but my daughter's physio accidentally parked on my neighbours drive yesterday and I had to walk on the lane to get to his house to tell her. I'd looked for cars and then walked to it. I was on the edge of his drive, so not even on the lane and car came belting round the corner pipping his horn at me :(

We have incidents constantly and locally in the last month we've had the tragic fatalities of a cyclist and a couple of days ago, a pedestrian :(

Despite the police being aware of several near misses, the highways agency will not lower the speed limit. You can't even get off the lane as the verges are too high and there are storm drains. People drive so fast that they often end up sideways in their cars in the dug outs. This happens once or twice a week.

I wondered what other people's views were on this. It's actually, most probably disproportionately, upset me that I was pipped at for standing on my neighbours drive but it highlights that motorists don't seem to expect people to be there.

[OurBlanche]

www.20splentyforus.org.uk/

Might this site help you come up with a plan? We have lots of the signs round here as there are horses, kids, sheep etc, all in the road at all times of the day.

[Whoknewitcouldbeso]

I totally agree with you. We live off a country lane and it is mental. There is no way I would walk on the road unless I had to and no way in hell I would allow my son to ride his bike on there (he is only two at the moment but if he was older, absolutely not). The worst is courier vans I've found. They drive so fast that they have almost run me off the road as they come round the corners. Add in earlier dark evenings and it's a recipe for tragedy.

[DonkeyOaty]

Yanbu

I live in the cuntryside where yes a driver could expect to meet variously: people walking, a school crocodile *, horses being ridden, cows crossing, a little cavalcade of sweet Fergie tractors, cyclists by the double handful let alone deer leaping unexpectedly yet it's like bleedin' Brands Hatch. Scary.
*delib misspelling
the children go two by two to walk to church occasionally

I am so sorry to hear your dog was hit and how rude to pip you; the recent accidents

[Paintedhandprints]

It's a shame cars rule the roads. I'm voting for Boris. Have no solutions sorry.

[DirectorFury]

for you OP, I'm sorry to hear about your dog .

YANBU about the lanes being unsafe. I ride on narrow country roads (single cars width) and had a car try and squeeze past me and my horse last week, rather than wait the 10 seconds it would have taken for me to trot the horse into the next passing place. Very luckily my horse didn't kick out but she did panic and try to spin and has been very upset since.

I was wearing a hat cam and passed all footage along to our local police force; who gave me the response of 'and what do you expect us to do about it?'.

[OurBlanche]

Can you publish that footage on one of those Drive Like a C type sites?

Or do they hate horse riders more that twattish drivers, or even cyclists?

Pity the police weren't more sympathetic. Here you might have got a teenager offering to tell his older brother/sister/mate to slow down and stop driving like a twat! But we do have a lot of livery round here, a fair few pro yards plus 2 or 3 chef d'equippes.

[Wheretheresawill1]

I totally agree but as a horse rider for 35 yrs id like to ask all fellow horse riders to acknowledge those drivers that slow down. I'm really shocked how many horse riders just ignore you- so rude

[3littlefrogs]

I always slow right down for horses/riders, and turn my car radio off.

Last time I did this, on a narrow road near a riding school, a white van behind the rider (rider coming towards me) overtook the horse at speed and drove between me and the rider.

Many drivers have no clue how to drive safely around horses. .

Maybe riders should have body cameras.

[Notoedike]

Agree - when out for a walk we found ourselves on a country road for about 200yds, hadn't realised when planning the walk using an OS map. It was terrifying, really felt we did not belong on the road. Won't allow dcs to cycle on the road either.

[CremeEggThief]

YANBU. Country lanes are dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists and animals and even drivers.

[JeffsanArsehole]

Totally agree. I drove 2 hours on country roads the other day and saw so much piss poor driving.

Someone overtook me on a blind bend which had a sign saying 37 fatalities in last 6 years on it

People drove right up my arse when there were grouse and deer running into the roads.

[ragged]

I can't agree with the generalisation.

My country lane is good & we cycle there & wave at horse riders. Maybe someone needs to define country lane. Sorry for those of you living on rat runs.

[Nearlycaughtawoozle]

YANBU - friend's 8 yr old daughter narrowly avoided being knocked over by jumping into a ditch when a speeding car hurtled passed her on a very narrow single track lane.

[MrsFrankieHeck]

I think it's ridiculous that people jog on the roads.

[pluck]

A relative of mine lives "in the country." The attitude seems to be that they "know the road." No acknowledgement that they might not so psychically "know" what's around that corner. Grr. YANBU.

[KidLorneRoll]

"I think it's ridiculous that people jog on the roads."

If there is no pavement as stated, why is it ridiculous?

[mollie123]

so sorry OP that your dog was killed on a country road
There is a cohort of drivers with powerful cars who have watched too much Jeremy Clarkson and see no speed limit signs so put their foot down on country lanes.
The locals take note of the passing places and take corners with caution while some idiot is tailgating them to go faster.
I would not cycle or walk on lots of country roads (and yes I know that they are NSL roads but that is meaningless as only a lunatic would drive at 60mph round a blind corner).
on a slightly cynical note - it will not get better as traffic continues to blight our once peaceful countryside

[Booboostwo]

I am very sorry about your dog.

We had horrific traffic problems when I lived in Shropshire. Houses were dotted along a collection of lanes, single lanes with passing places, high verges and hedgerows that made visibility impossible ( as a pedestrian/cyclist/rider you could hear cars coming but had nowhere to go and they couldn't see you they wee on top of you). Most of the farms had been converted into houses leading to a lot more traffic than was reasonable on the lanes. Walking/cycling riding on the roads meant taking your life into your own hands, twice I had cars squeeze past when there was no room and hit my leg in the stirrup. There were a lot of footpaths but no bridleways or cycle ways. On days with increased farm traffic because of hay cutting for example it was not safe to use the roads other than in a car. The lanes were national speed limit which was insane.

[ForalltheSaints]

I don't think it is 'anymore'. It has been that way for many years. I was on a local Road Safety Panel when I lived in Wiltshire 20 years ago and it was discussed then.

Chelsea Tractors just make it slightly worse.

[Owllady]

I wonder if it is so dangerous in many places, why the speed limits haven't been looked at earlier? My friend is in Scotland and alot of their lanes have been changed to 40 mph. She said it took a while for people to obey but they did eventually.

I shouldn't have generalised either, our lanes are rat runs. I just despair. I have to watch my fourteen year old onto the school bus in the morning as people overtake the bus before he has got on (on a blind bend) and I just don't trust drivers to be sensible. Many are though, arguably

It was two years ago my dog got run over. The driver drove off :(

[Booboostwo]

There was a consultation a few years back which concluded with the irrational statement that there was no need to reduce the national speed limit on country lanes as all drivers can see it would be dangerous to drive that fast on them and would slow down anyway. The official statement was so ridiculous I used in logic classes for a while but I can't find it again now.

I am so sorry about your dog Owllady. My cat was a victim of a hit and run many years ago but my neighbour saw it all and kindly took her to the vets who saved her life.

[NorbertDentressangle]

YANBU

I occasionally drive along some lanes near to my Mum's house on the edge of a rural town.

Around 35 years ago we used to cycle round those lanes (no adults just kids aged 10-14ish) - there is no way I would cycle along them nowadays!!

There's so much more traffic and it's much faster. We used to cycle for hours and only see occasional cars but now you meet one (more often than not on the wrong side of the road ) round every bend.

[Sybilvimes]

I completely agree that the speed limit should be changed on many country lanes to prevent this, but I also want to point out that there a thread very recently about Sunday drivers 'only' doing 40 on country lanes and how this was infuriating and appalling driving.

So how can you please everyone? If you drive at sub 40 because there 'may' be something slower around the next corner that everyone behind you is pissed off and drives dangerously to overtake as a result, and if you drive faster you may take a bend and find yourself close to a group of horses/ cyclists you had no way of knowing was there.

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Yanbu

Apparently 3 people need to have died outside my house before the speed limit is reduced. It's insane.

[Bloomsberry]

It's crazy around here (tiny bendy lanes, unfortunately something of a ratrun between two major roads, despite being deeply rural). I was running, facing traffic, in a high vis vest, in broad daylight, no traffic coming the other way, when a car actually clipped my side with its wing mirror the other day. My childminder, who is local, remembers pottering around on her bike on these lanes as a child, but even DH, a hardened London cyclist, won't cycle to work here. The only people who do are weekend cyclists who presumably feel safer in big groups. And the way people drive around riders is insane. There are some lovely bridle paths almost no one uses because you need to go a hundred yards down to road to cross between sections.