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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

countryside road etiquette

102 replies

Crystyclear · 19/04/2011 13:36

oh dear... it's the holidays.

yes, i know you enjoy driving your pretty little sportscar/hulking great caravan/ posh saloon (delete as appropriate) around the countryside lanes, but please, please learn some basic fecking etiquette:

if you're on a single track road and you meet a car coming the other way and there's a pull in space just behind you, do reverse into it and let them by

or if there's no pull in but the road is wide enough for two, then pull over - so no one has to scratch their car squeezing though.

don't honk and fuss at the farmers and their vehicles - they are working and live here and will usually pull over when they can to let you by.

i don't care what the sat nav is telling you - if the road sign says no vehicles over X height or X width, it's not a joke and having the only road to your house closed due to a jack-knifed car with caravan is certainly not funny.

or AIBU?

OP posts:

HopeEternal · 19/04/2011 17:05

On our country road please remember that the villages have a 30 or 40 mph speed limit for a reason. In at least one instance that reason was the death of a friend's son. Despite numerous appeals to have a reduced speed limit the council refused until after someone had been killed.

Tolalola · 19/04/2011 17:06

Oh yes I hate it when people beep at tractors or at animals crossing. Always used to make me drive as slowly as I could or stand the cows in the middle of the road for five minutes while I watched the driver's face turn purple with rage struggled with the gate.

BeerTricksPotter · 19/04/2011 17:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Quenelle · 19/04/2011 17:24

Brilliant I can do my Duel analogy again. Correctly this time.

EauRouge · 19/04/2011 17:42

I have to drive on a single track road quite often and I can't believe how rude some people are.

Don't force my little hatchback off the road so you don't get the wheels of your big shiny 4x4 dirty. You are designed to go off-road, I'm not.

'Knowing the road' is not an excuse to drive like a twat. You may know the road but that will be of no consolation to you when you drive round the corner at 60mph and go straight into the back of a tractor that you didn't know was there.

diabolo · 19/04/2011 17:48

There is nothing worse than cars who drive at 40mph whever they are though, country lane and village alike.

These people pobably think they are being really careful, but all they end up doing is annoying people who want to go faster on the 60mph roads, and then annoying them again when they steam off into the distance by breaking village speed limits.

nijinsky · 19/04/2011 17:52

Or the drivers who actually speed up from 40mph coming into a village because theres street lights and they can see better?

diabolo · 19/04/2011 17:54

nijinsky - you must live near me!

nijinsky · 19/04/2011 17:56

Butterbur "And round here some of the horse riders also need a bit of a lesson.

Don't ride two abreast, and if someone's behind, it would be a nice gesture to break into a little trot to the pull in, half a mile ahead, instead of ambling.

Plus, seeing as this lane is right next to extensive woodland, criss- crossed with bridleways, why are you riding up the road anyway? I have to, if I'm in the car, but no way would I want to, if I'm walking/running/cycling/horse riding."

Its the countryside. Sometimes its nice to ride two abreast to chat. Other reasons are that it is safer when taking a young, inexperienced horse out on roads at first, to have a more experienced horse alongside to soothe him. Horses aren't just born good in traffic.

Some people don't live adjacent to woodland and bridlepaths but have to use lanes to get there. Also, since they have as much right to be on the road as you and your car, might I suggest it is you who needs teaching the lesson? If you don't want to encounter normal countryside things, stick to motorways.

Snorbs · 19/04/2011 18:03

And if farmers could avoid dumping loads of mud and manure across the road from their tractors, that would be fab too.

itsthawooluff · 19/04/2011 18:04

Sorry I love farmers and farm workers generally, but if I am riding up a bridlepath on the edge of the field, and you race into the field in a huge yellow and red spraying rig, please could you inspect the field for 5 mins before you extend the arms, whilst we get out of your way instead of what you did. Which was skid to a halt 30 feet away, then extend arms at full speed and then spend 10 minutes inspecting ground, whilst I had to persuade Cob to climb off the hedge she had tried to climb into.

Spraying rig + arms = Cob eating dragon

I always thank drivers who slow by the way, they are worth their weight in gold.

JaneS · 19/04/2011 18:05

I wish this thread had been around when I still lived in the country. However:

If you have driven a mile and a half along a pretty single-track road between a village and a school, don't choose to block the only decent-sized passing space while you have discreet alfresco sex.

For discreet it will not be.

... always amazed me just how many people managed this one!

Lucyinthepie · 19/04/2011 18:05

"Don't ride two abreast, and if someone's behind, it would be a nice gesture to break into a little trot to the pull in, half a mile ahead, instead of ambling."
Agreed, sometimes riders need to ride two abreast, because either the inside rider or horse needs a bit of support.
We can't always trot either, sometimes the horse either mentally or physically needs to stay in a walk. Half a mile is a long way to trot, and trotting isn't the best thing to do on the roads, not good for the horses' legs. I bet there are plenty here who can't just jog for half a mile on demand, horses are the same.
Riders should acknowledge considerate drivers, I'll agree with that. However, don't expect that you'll always get them giving you a happy wave, sometimes they need to keep their hands on the reins and their eyes front, so they might just nod. That's not always so easy to see.
I have been yelled at about riding on the roads, but the thing is, not everything that looks like a bridleway is one. Footpaths aren't bridleways, nor are the tracks around farmers fields. We aren't allowed to ride on them. All woodland is not available to us. Sometimes, if we do have bridleways nearby... guess what? We need to ride on the roads to get to them, or to get home.

JaneS · 19/04/2011 18:06

Oh yes, and horses/bikes that don't get into single file when there's a car coming piss me off too. I'll pass you nice and slow and wide; you could do your bit.

EauRouge · 19/04/2011 18:15

Never mind single file, I got stuck behind a cyclist the other day that was wobbling right along the middle of a single track road, merrily ignoring every single passing place so that I had to crawl along behind him in 2nd gear for 2 sodding miles.

JacksSnoryStory · 19/04/2011 18:22

DON'T BUY A FECKIN GREAT BIG 4 X 4 TANK IF YOU CAN'T DRIVE IT PROPERLY (or if in fact you either have loads of dc or actually use it for off roading). You bloody, bloody, selfish fuckers. You do not deserve more than half the road so that the rest of us end up scratching our cars/taking off our wing mirrors in the hedge. ARSEHOLES

I have to deal with this EVERY day, living on a lane. It drives me crazy.

redredruby · 19/04/2011 18:26

when I started riding my horse in traffic (only about 8 months ago) I tried to ride as close as I could to the side to allow drivers to pass more easily....I discovered this simply encouraged some drivers to squeeze by me, even if there was another car coming in the opposite direction causing a few near misses!

Whilst I don't now ride in the middle of the road I certainly am more assertive about where I position my horse and this had lead to fewer drivers brushing past me! Of course, when there is somewhere to pull in I do, and I always say thanks to those who are considerate

diabolo · 19/04/2011 18:27

Jacks and they always drive in the middle of the road coming at you around a blind bend! I know! I've had 2 punctures having to drive into bloody ditches to avoid hitting the stupid things.

JacksSnoryStory · 19/04/2011 18:33

YY diabolo, exactly. Selfish tiny pricks the lot of them. Actually the women drivers are just as bad as the men, don't mean to reserve my venom for men only

Lucyinthepie · 19/04/2011 19:04

The bottom line with horse riders is that our vehicles don't dent, they die.
It may not be convenient when someone wants to be somewhere in a hurry, but there are animals on the roads, and by nature animals are unpredictable. This applies to all animals, but my particular experience is when riding or leading horses. Just like children, horses need to learn road sense, and that is often why you see riders two abreast who won't go single file and trot on for your convenience.
When people squeeze past a rider, or wind their windows down to screech abuse, or drive past at speed sounding the horn, maybe they don't realise the danger they put themselves in. When horses are in collision with cars they often end up on the bonnet, and if the car is going at speed, bits of horse are likely to come through the windscreen. We're talking about maybe half a ton of bone, muscle and four hooves... Often the rider is thrown clear and the car driver, horse and any passengers suffer most in the accident.
Just a thought.

JaneS · 19/04/2011 19:20

Just a thought - teach yourself, your child or your horse to ride properly off road. If you're not confident of your ability to do that, don't ride at all.

diabolo · 19/04/2011 19:24

But generally to get to somewhere "off road", yo have to go on a road to get there don't you, as Nijinsky says above?

I don't think horse riders are anywhere as much a problem as other car drivers and cyclists. In my wide experience, horse riders are the ONLY people who ever say thank you to you when you are nice to them!

redredruby · 19/04/2011 19:29

LittleRedDragon - but we are confident riding on road / off road, we are riding safely and taking all precautions, it is in many cases the drivers who through impatience or carelessness, or even just error of judgement cause the accident.

We have just as much right to be on the road - just like cyclists, motorbikes etc - and if everyone was a bit more considerate then incidents as outlined by Lucyinthepie would be greatly reduced. This does not of course mean that horse riders have no responsibility to be safe and polite to other road users, which in my personal experience most are.

JaneS · 19/04/2011 19:31

I expect I'm reacting to the ones I've experienced then. We got loads who just take the micky - if you see a small child on a horse/bike, or a horse that someone's obviously training, I do see it'll be slower for them to get down to single file and a car driver may end up behind them for some time. But if you're on a single track road for miles, there is a point when you do need to make room for a car, and that might mean stopping for a bit. You'll survive.

Round near us there are some very experienced responsible riding teachers and I know one of the very first things they do with young horses is to teach them to get into single file - it's just necessary if you live somewhere where there's a lot of narrow roads.

I get furious when riders seem to think that everyone is happy to drive a mile or more at a horse's walking pace, or worse when they blithly wave you on to pass them on the wrong side of the road - straight into the path of oncoming cars. Had that happen more than once when I was learning and it is bloody scary.

JaneS · 19/04/2011 19:32

red - highway code says horses should be single file. If you are riding two abreast, you should expect to have to stop and get down to single file every now and again. Otherwise why wonder if cars get cross?

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