What should I have done? (almost hit horse and rider with my car)

A speed limit is a limit, not a target. As others have said, you drive according to conditions, weather, visibility, traffic, time of day.

This time of year the rather dim pheasants just plop off the verge into the road without a care in the world.
Deer do the same and if you seen one it often means its mates are not far behind.
I don't often see horses on 60 mph roads. There is a local riding school placed in the middle of a chicane which can be a bit hairy - little kids crossing the road with ponies. It's 40mph there, but also big signs.

Me too! Lots of winding 60mph roads around here that are really only safe at 30mph or 40 at a push. I always seem to end up with some tit in a massive car right up behind me though.

I live rurally, I actually live on a very bendy road. There are only a handful of houses so the wee stretch of road with us on it goes down to 40, but no one does 40. They keep on at 60. My driveway is about 100 yards from a blind bend. If I’m waiting to turn into my driveway, I have to keep one eye in the rear view for people flying around the corner.

Someone went right through my neighbours wall and into their garden once because they were coming too fast round the blind bend, and couldn’t stop in time when they saw a stationary car waiting to turn into a drive so they had to swerve. It’s a bit different as our stretch is 40 so they’re speeding, but it’s the same principal. You’re going round a blind bend so slow down, you need to be able to stop in the spade you can see in front of you so you need to go slower.

Redstorm2807

OK, you made a mistake, but now you'll be a much better driver. I'm glad everyone came out unharmed. Everyone makes mistakes and now you're aware that ones like that can end badly.

That said, I have long wondered why so many National Speed Limit signs are right before steep bends.

i hate thats it 60 on country roads theyre so dangerous i never do it- people thing its a trget to aim for

As my driving instructor told me, the speed limit is a limit, not a instruction to drive at that speed and if you can't see a clear road ahead you should always slow down and drive with extra caution.

I must admit I was always a little blasé as well until I had to do alot more country driving and came across horses, dog walkers, prams, deer, tractors, escaped animals etc on a regular basis. Now I'm super careful!!!

We live in the sticks so lots of country roads and you have to use common sense. There are lot of 60 roads around here that shouldn’t be 60. I take a blind bend slow, regardless of what other people think and how others drive. You have no idea what’s around the other side.

Agree with the slow on the bend advice. If you can't see then go slow. It could be a hiker, a cat, a horse, bycylce round the corner. Just take the corners slowly :)

Agree. The speed limit is just a maximum.. it’s not a speed to always drive at regardless of conditions.

Also for anyone that doesn’t know what rider hand signals mean it’s worth taking note of them
I asked a driver to stop once because I could see around the bend over the hedge. He told me to fuck off and then flew past me straight into a tractor and had to reverse all the way back

It's ridiculous that so many windy roads with blind bends are perceived as being "allowed" to drive at 60mph. Many of them I go at 30 because that's the fastest I can go not seeing around the bend in front of me.

Obviously I go faster when it straightens up, but 60 is way too fast for many bits of them.

Yeah slower round bends, could have been a tractor, broken down vehicle, or anything there. Well done for owning it.

No harm done on this occasion and it will make you think twice

I imagine you would have worked this out on your own if asked abstractly the day before yesterday so probably you’re still a bit shaken up by it.

Anyone can be one used to the roads anywhere. Sometimes we need a gentle kick up the backside

There but for the grace of God go I

The question to always ask yourself for any situation is 'Can I stop safely and easily in the amount of road surface I can see to be clear'? It sounds like you could stop, but not safely and easily so probably a little fast. It might only be 5mph, but that would make all the difference.

Op, if you genuinely need people to tell you you don’t go round a blind bend at 60, or even 40, then can you do a top up type driving lesson?

I live in the New Forest it's well known we have all kinds of large mammals wandering about all the day and night. Yet every year several lives of all kinds are lost though people driving too fast for the conditions.

I also worked rurally in areas that don't have lounging animals everywhere. Even in these places animals could get onto the road because some pillock can't shut gates properly

I agree with the pp who say to drive slow when visibility is difficult and as though there are surprises around every corner.

Like everyone else has said you need to slow down if you can’t see what is ahead of you for the simple reason that you can’t see what is ahead of you

You drive according to the road situation, as per the law! Good grief OP, I'm baffled why you seem confused by this.

That horse and rider had every right to be there. What if it had been a stationary vehicle, a pedestrian who had fallen into the road, a tree that had come down?

Learn to drive around corners at an appropriate speed that you can safely stop if you suddenly come across an obstacle just out of sight around the bend.

P.s. a horse's arse through the windscreen is not something to mess around with, even if you don't care a jot about the animal or the (justifiably angry) rider. You are bloody lucky you didn't come across a spooky horse.

No harm done this time thankfully, but lesson learned. Always assume there may be something around a corner when you can’t see. A half tonne horse landing on a windscreen is as likely to kill the driver as the horse and rider. It’s easy to get complacent when it’s a familiar route.

There can be anything around a blind bend. Roadworks. Broken down car, cyclists, pedestrians.

The 60 mph limit does not mean you can go on the road at 60 mph at all times. Only that that is the limit and you can travel at that speed maximum if it is safe to do so.

In this case it sounds like you should have been navigating the bend more cautiously at a slower speed until you regained sight of what was ahead. If you can't see what is ahead you should be travelling more slowly so you can come to a halt without needing to do an emergency stop.

My guess is if you had hit the horse you would have been done for dangerous driving/driving with undue care and attention, even if you were going well below the speed limit.

As police officers often drone on, the speed limit is a limit. Not a target to be attained.

You should’ve been going a bit steadier given you couldn’t see around the corner but sometimes these things happen and we make calls based on complacency when we know the roads well. You’ll think more in future, and that can only be a good thing.
As a horse rider, I can understand his reaction. It can be bloody scary riding out on the roads, even on a sensible horse as he obviously was.

Like everyone said: where you lack visibility of the road ahead, you drive like there is a major obstacle just out of view, because you should expect there to be. It doesn't really matter what it is (horse, cyclist, broken down vehicle, child that's darted into the road); you anticipate it and only accelerate when you have visibility.