Horses on the road - rant !

[Itsabeautifuldayoutside]

Sorry just needed a bit of a rant. I know not everyone is like this, and to everyone who drives respectfully around horses- thank you so much, it’s so appreciated.

Unfortunately some people are completely selfish (and stupid!) and drive carelessly around horses and my post is directed towards them. It’s the law now- drive at less than 10mph, give at least 2 metres of space and don’t make unnecessary noise (engine reving, beeping horn). Why is this so difficult to understand? Going out hacking is so, so stressful because of other people’s selfishness. If you can’t follow the Highway Code then you shouldn’t have a driving license.

My stables has fields and off road areas for riding, but the destruction of bridle paths meant that to get to the off-road areas you have to hack on a country road. Also, sometimes horses need to be out hacking or on the roads for training, working or health reasons. It’s not just for leisure. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been sworn at, tailgated, hassled, overtaken at insane speeds, overtaken with no space.

Last week I was overtaken by someone at easily 40mph+ who was so busy hassling me and beeping their horn that they didn’t check for the oncoming traffic. After pulling out, they had to speed up even more and pull back in to our side of the road- nearly knocking my horse over. Luckily my boy is fantastic on the roads and is the most bombproof hacker, but this could have been so, so dangerous for everyone involved and unfortunately isn’t unusual.

side note- my horse weighs around 600kg. Even if you’re selfish and don’t care about me, or him, or other road users- why would you want to risk him landing on top of your car in an accident?!

Of course I checked my mirrors but he was travelling very fast and squeezed into a space that was barely wide enough for him. I wasn't travelling fast but even so I had to brake hard as I was in a hair's breadth of squashing him.
As above he hasn't got a licence to ride a bike on the road because there isn't one. I've got a driving licence but it doesn't mean I can drive anything, a bus? No. An HGV? No. I could get on a horse or a bike but I wouldn't be safe on them as I can't ride either to a standard that would be safe on the road.

I wasn't inattentive, fortunately for him despite his inappropriate actions I stopped. I wasn't impatient, I waited for a suitable break in the traffic to pull on to the main road. I'm not a poor driver, I've got a clean licence for 50 years.

They might have priority but they'd be insane to run out in front of a moving car wouldn't they? Priority isn't a magic shield.

He came up very fast, I assume he had come out of a cul de sac just behind the junction and risked his life to get in front of me. Two minutes later on the main road I passed him. Was it worth it?

Thank you.

The main thing is whatever the rule is use your common sense and he didn't. I was cuatiously making the manouvre and he came past far too fast and put himself in real danger.

but he was travelling very fast

it was a bike you said, so how can a cyclists be travelling very fast? The average cyclist travels at 17mph so hardly fast 💨 drivers travel at 3 x that speed and it’s still legal on many roads

you have a driving licence but don’t keep up to date with changes in the HC and it would have been your fault if you hit the cyclist as pedestrians, cyclists and horses have priority at junctions

I had checked my mirrors. He was travelling far too fast to go round the corner anyway. I assume he guessed that as I was moving the main road was clear so he could get round on to it but that is a stupid thing to do.

How many questions about riding a bike do you get asked on your test? Not questions about bike riders but about riding one? I didn't get asked any and I have no idea which sections of the highway code he read because I don't know him and I didn't stop him to ask.

The main thing is whatever the rule is use your common sense

you have to stick to the HIghway code regardless of whether you determine it’s common sense or not and the reason for that is so everyone knows what you should be doing in your car whilst driving

What does this mean? Genuinley. I'm not being snippy, I would like to know!

ancientgran

did you have to revise the entire Highway Code or just the parts relevant to driving?

I do keep up to date on the rules but amazingly that didn't enable me to see him as he whizzed past me.

He wasn't travelling at 17 mph, he was faster than that and I was moving much slower than him.

It is amazing how people on here make things up.

This. Negotiating narrow single track roads, and dealing with other road users like horses and pedestrians (no pavements!) is part of the deal if you live rurally. What planet are these drivers on?

Society seems to get ever more self centred and selfish.

What I had to do isn't relevant but actually I did learn it all. Did he? I have no idea. I have no idea if he is licensed to drive a car or a bus but I know he isn't licensed to ride a bike because there isn't a test and licence for it but I think there should be.

SexyLittleNosferatu

your driving licence can be revoked and thus you lose the right to drive - this you’re there by licence

horse riders, cyclists and pedestrians are not in that position, their rights to use the roads can’t be revoked. They don’t have a licence to lose

It means exactly what the poster said.

Drivers do not have an unalterable right to drive on the road. Their driving licence can be taken away.

ancientgran

my point is you haven’t kept up to date with the Highway Code so you put his life in danger by your ignorance of the chances - so your licence and test wasn’t relevant

We live in the New Forest and have horses, ponies, cattle and pigs roaming around on the roads. Locals know to be careful (and usually are) but when the tourist season hits it can be carnage.

No you follow the rules, stay within the rules but you don't imagine that will magically keep you safe so you observe what is going on around you. So as an example I live near a country road with national speed limit, I can tell you it is not safe to drive that fast on that road, in the 25 years I've lived here there have been many accidents, some fatal on that road, because people drive too fast. They are following the highway code aren't they but they should use their commonsense and realise that a narrow country road with lots of bends requires driving somewhat slower.

ancientgran Do you know about the hierarchy changes?

They are following the highway code

the HC doesn’t state the speed limit is a target and does state to drive to the conditions of the road

I have kept up with the highway code. Keeping up with the highway code did not mean his manouvre was safe. I didn't put his life in danger, he did, not just from me going round the bend but by joining a busy road when he couldn't see how close traffic was on a road with a speed limit of 40 mph. Would you close your eyes and go round the corner onto such a road without looking?

Exactly, you have got it. The following the rule of 30/40/60 mph does mean it is safe to do it, you use your commonsense, you don't break the speed limit but you judge the safety and if necessary reduce your speed.

Yes. Because of the speed he came at with me already turning the corner the hierachy wasn't the point.

I wasn't trying to trump him, I stopped as I saw him in time, he was riding dangerously fast, doing a dangerous manouvre (narrow Devon lanes with high walls at the side that he could have easily touched as he was so close) and then he joined the main road when he couldn't possibly see if traffic was coming as I would have been blocking his view even if I was stationary.

My old yard was in the countryside so the only roadwork needed to get to bridlepaths was country lanes. Drivers were generally arseholes, so much so that I bought and wore a GoPro to deter their bad driving, with a big camera sticker on my hi Viz.

Current yard requires a limited amount of travel along a busy A road to get to the endless miles of off road hacking. Drivers tend to pass wide but a bit fast and are, on the whole, far more considerate than those on the country lanes. No one likes riding on busy roads but have a look at a map sometime and tell me how else we're supposed to get to the bridlepaths that start in the middle of nowhere?

That should be doesn't mean it is safe to do it.

It means that you, me, anyone else (barring some sort of extremely specific ASBO, I suppose) can pick up a bike and take it out on the road, legally. Similarly we could also go for a walk on the road or take a horse out. This applies to all roads except motorways, which, as their name indicates, are for motorised vehicles only.

Everyone has the right to use the roads in these ways.

But neither of us could simply get in a car and take it onto the road without first passing tests and obtaining the right licence. And that licence can be revoked if you drive badly. We do not have an inalienable right to take a car onto the road. We drive by licence, not by right.