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Original poster

New Highway Code rule of 2 metres between cars and horses for overtaking

202 replies

01iv30i1 · 08/01/2022 14:53

If not possible you must wait.

Those of us who live and use country lanes with no alternative are now going to take hours to get anywhere.

OP posts:
Tommika · 09/01/2022 13:10

….. unless of course they go by horse box

So now instead of a horse & rider on the road you have a wider 4x4 and trailer driving with the full care and attention required to tow a heavy load that moves within its horse box

thedancingbear · 09/01/2022 13:19

@ChristmasTreeBee

I live in the country and there a bloody horses everywhere - I hate the fucking things…

Most of the riders around here are entitled twats!! And have been known to deliberately make it difficult to overtake! I reported the dash cam footage to the police who did fuck all!

There are enough bridleways near me so a horse theoretically doesn’t need to be any where near a highway!

Sadly the Highway Code seems to have been written by an imbecile.

Annoyingly I could be fined for not having my dog on a lead yet a 2 ton horse which could cause significantly more damage is allowed in roads

Poop poop!

Get out of my way!!!

ImFree2doasiwant · 09/01/2022 13:31

How on earth do you pass other cars OP? Or tractors/other farming machinery and vehicles? I live on a single track road, with a hedge one side and a verge and ditch the other. Still it's possible to give 2 meters by driving slowly and allowing the rider to move to a safe place. If you can pass oncoming cars, you can give a horse 2 meters.

I used to live near a riding school that took large groups out, yes that can be frustrating but it's rural life for you. Same as muddy roads,Cockerels crowing and getting stuck behind a tractor

SoupDragon · 09/01/2022 13:33

Still it's possible to give 2 meters by driving slowly and allowing the rider to move to a safe place. If you can pass oncoming cars, you can give a horse 2 meters.

Do the maths! Horse + 2m + width of car = wider than some lanes.

Nanny0gg · 09/01/2022 13:35

@Sirzy

To overtake a horse safely it needs to be wide and slow.

Your impatiences to get passed doesn’t make it safer!

But if you're on a two way country road you can't be two metres away. I have passed many horses slowly and carefully without a problem.

Although I do wish they wouldn't exercise their horses at school run time!

Magnited · 09/01/2022 13:36

Horses came before school runs......

bordermidgebite · 09/01/2022 13:36

Single track lanes have passing places -

these are to be used when you meet something coming the other way

or to permit overtaking

If you can't be arsed to wait for a suitable passing spot you shouldn't be at the wheel of a car

ImFree2doasiwant · 09/01/2022 13:45

@SoupDragon my point being, how does OP pass another car? If she can pass an oncoming car, she can pass a horse safely.

Poppins2016 · 09/01/2022 13:57

If you're considerate to other road users, they'll be considerate to you. In the case of horse riders, they'll usually move onto the next bit of verge or a gateway to let you past once there's a chance (or failing that, they'll wave you past them once they feel comfortable with the road conditions). It's very unusual to be stuck behind horses for a long time, if nothing else they don't enjoy being tailed by a car any more than you enjoy tailing them! (Speaking as an occasional rider and an experienced 'countryside driver).

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 09/01/2022 13:59

Still it's possible to give 2 meters by driving slowly and allowing the rider to move to a safe place. If you can pass oncoming cars, you can give a horse 2 meters

No, it's really not on some lanes, which is why passing other cars (in opposite directions) can often only happen if you both tuck your wing mirrors in and drive at about 2mph.

That said, you can still pass a rider at less than a 2mph gap, but it just involves common sense on both sides - the rider stops and pulls as close to the verge as possible - the driver does the same thing and just drives very, very slowly. It's never been a problem before now so I'm not sure why anything would change now.

It's not like people are going to stop, get out a ruler and measure the road before overtaking Grin

SoupDragon · 09/01/2022 14:00

[quote ImFree2doasiwant]@SoupDragon my point being, how does OP pass another car? If she can pass an oncoming car, she can pass a horse safely.[/quote]
Not necessarily. 2m plus the width of a horse and rider is probably wider than a car.

bordermidgebite · 09/01/2022 14:20

Most ( all?) horses with riders are not wider than the 2.55 m assumption of normal maximum vehicle width that roads are designed for.

Typical single track road will still have places where 2 tractors can pass

If you can't pass . Wait .

RoyalFamilyFan · 09/01/2022 14:45

A car is about 2metres with wing mirrors, horse with rider say 1 metre? You still have to leave the 2 metres in between. So you need a 5 metre wide road.
I will carry on doing what I do.

bordermidgebite · 09/01/2022 14:52

A passing place should mean the width is at least 5 meters ( 2.55*2)

2 + 1+2=5

MaybeHeIsMyCat · 09/01/2022 14:54

The other option if the rider is heading towards you is to stop, and let the rider come past. Most know their horses and are happy if you are stopped to come past a car
Just take the direction from the rider - also if they are frantically waving at you not to come past, don't flick the v sign and come past anyway... I could see over the hedge there was a tractor coming and asked the car behind to stop. He flew round the blind bend, slammed on and then had to reverse all the way back I didn't laugh much
We all want to stay alive and I will always tell a driver if I can see something they can't!

merrymouse · 09/01/2022 14:58

I don’t understand the problem.

I always thought that you weren’t supposed to overtake a horse or bike unless there was space on the opposite side of the road, so allowing at least a 2 metre gap.

Presumably they are just spelling it out in the Highway Code because people don’t leave enough space.

I’m sure that people who live rurally are much less delayed by horses than city dwellers are by cars. You just have to accept that sometimes you will be delayed by other road users.

ViceLikeBlip · 09/01/2022 15:07

OP what do you do if you come across a car/van/tractor coming the opposite direction? Do you just reverse for miles and miles? There are always places to pass sensibly, you should never have been squeezing past horses on a single track lane. You're being totally ridiculous.

LuaDipa · 09/01/2022 15:16

@lljkk

Riders get on the verge all the time to facilitate overtaking. They don't want a trail of cars any more than you don't want to be in that Q of cars.
This.

I live rurally with lots of narrow lanes and horse riders always show consideration to other road users and generally move to the verge to facilitate safe overtaking. This is better for them and the horse than having a car tailing close behind them. I really don’t see this ‘new’ rule being an issue as it’s surely common sense anyway.

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 09/01/2022 15:18

Talk about over dramatic! You should be leaving 2m between your car and a horse anyway. Pity any road users that live near you, particularly cyclists and horse riders. I live rurally (including free roaming ponies) and it never takes additional "HOURS" to get anywhere.

countrygirl99 · 09/01/2022 16:09

@01iv30i1

Me neither. You didn’t read the op. It’s when you can’t overtake for several miles. You can’t now if you can’t leave 2 metres.
As a driver and horse rider who lives in a very horsey area I really don't believe for 1 moment that you are getting stuck behind horses for miles.
Russelhobskettle · 09/01/2022 16:32

[quote Tommika]@Russelhobskettle

^ You're a bit hard of thinking - how do you think the horse riders get to the bridleways?

^

Duh!!! They use horse paths and horse bridges of course[/quote]
I thought we beamed them there, like in Star Trek.

Duchess379 · 09/01/2022 19:41

I've been doing that anyway. I live in a rural area with lots of country roads & horse riders. I slow right down not 'tailgate' and only overtake when safe to do so. A horse can get spooked easily & it's not pretty when they send the rider flying or run into your car!

beautifullymad · 09/01/2022 20:01

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

Seems fine to me - I wouldn't want to give a Horse and Rider less than 2 metres of clear space. If there isn't 2 metres, I can wait.
I completely agree. Not to give a minimum of 2 meters is dangerous. For changes in road law to have to change for this means people really don't understand they should be leaving a minimum gap of two meters.
daisychain01 · 09/01/2022 20:07

@ImFree2doasiwant

How on earth do you pass other cars OP? Or tractors/other farming machinery and vehicles? I live on a single track road, with a hedge one side and a verge and ditch the other. Still it's possible to give 2 meters by driving slowly and allowing the rider to move to a safe place. If you can pass oncoming cars, you can give a horse 2 meters.

I used to live near a riding school that took large groups out, yes that can be frustrating but it's rural life for you. Same as muddy roads,Cockerels crowing and getting stuck behind a tractor

The OP would be in a permanently state of wound-up round here - flocks of sheep wandering on the verges and across the roads, pheasants dive bombing out of the hedge rows (they have to be the most stupid creatures ever!).

The fact is, the actual time spent navigating all this rural activity is seconds or at most 1-2 minutes, yet the OP thinks slowing down is going to take up hours of their life. Utterly bonkers.

daisychain01 · 09/01/2022 20:12

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

Still it's possible to give 2 meters by driving slowly and allowing the rider to move to a safe place. If you can pass oncoming cars, you can give a horse 2 meters

No, it's really not on some lanes, which is why passing other cars (in opposite directions) can often only happen if you both tuck your wing mirrors in and drive at about 2mph.

That said, you can still pass a rider at less than a 2mph gap, but it just involves common sense on both sides - the rider stops and pulls as close to the verge as possible - the driver does the same thing and just drives very, very slowly. It's never been a problem before now so I'm not sure why anything would change now.

It's not like people are going to stop, get out a ruler and measure the road before overtaking Grin

I've done the bit with the tucking in wing mirrors loads of times - but somewhat futile when in a single track road with the recycling cart and a horse and me all nice and cosy Grin

You just have to go with the flow and lots of yoga breathing!