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?!

Would you close your eyes and go round the corner onto such a road without looking?

what are you suggesting now?

you are responsible for keeping safe, you’ve admitted up thread you didn’t see a cyclists, the cyclist was travelling to fast and you believe they were in the wrong for following the rules of the Highway Code and not your rules of common sense

now you’re asking if people would close their eyes whilst on the rd in charge of a vehicle 🤦‍♀️

I didn't say I didn't see him. If I hadn't seen him we'd have collided.

He effectively closed his eyes and went round a corner onto a main road with a 40 mph limit. There was no way he could see if there was traffic coming and you think I was the problem.

You keep making things up. You've said I didn't know the highway code, I do, you said i didn't know the changes this year, I do, you said I didn't see him and I did.

Maybe stick to the facts.

I didn't say I didn't see him. If I hadn't seen him we'd have collided.

so you both followed the Highway Code and didn’t collide 🤷‍♀️

The cyclist who decided to undertake me as I turned left on a sharp bend onto a busy road really must have a death wish. As he whizzed into my vision on the narrow strip between my car and a wall I had to brake hard and fortunately there was a big gap before the next car on the main road or there could have been a squashed cyclist and two or more cars and contents mangled.

this is what you wrote as if the cyclist was in the wrong

undertaking isn’t wrong and neither is turning left onto a main road with a gap in the traffic, both permissible in Highway Code. You followed the Highway code and braked 🤷‍♀️

If you can't accept that others have just as much right to be on the road as you, then you shouldn't be allowed to use the road at all.

YANBU at all. My daily school run drive (a good 5 miles) is mostly through country lanes and there are often riders out hacking and I’m always shocked at how careless some drivers are. Was witness to one very spooked and out of control horse recently when a car beeped their horn. it was scary. But not the horse or riders fault at all, it’s careless drivers who don’t have any consideration for others.

No. A road is for anyone that wants to use it. Cars, vans, bikes; riders, dog walkers, pedestrians.

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.

here again you accuse the cyclist of being to fast.. yet you have no idea how many mob he was travelling 🤷‍♀️ What is to fast?

you’ve said you were going cautiously- which according to the rule allows him to undertake

You'd be fuming if you lived and driven where I do. There is no way of passing horses/cyclists for miles at a time. Lots of single lane, bendy country roads. Heck you can't even pass on oncoming car for a lot of it. There are passing places, but still doesn't give enough room to pass a horse with a safe enough gap.
So guess what I slow down, give lots of space between myself and the horses in front of me and enjoy the countryside until we find somewhere safe to pass. Always get a smile and thank you from the riders.

Thing is I know there are stables in the area and it's my choice to drive on those roads. 90% of the time it's a gamble that pays off and saves me time. The other 10% I get held up for a bit

But surely you slow for those blind bends??
I drive along a similar road, it's national speed limit, but I rarely go above 30 ( nor does anyone else that knows the road), the bends I slow right down for, there really is no way of knowing if anything is round the corner (whether that's a horse, cyclist, walker, runner or car coming in other direction). A few of those bends I drop in to 2nd so that I'm able to stop dead if I need to.

Just this afternoon we turned a bend on a narrow, windy country road to find the entire road blocked by horses and people. Luckily the car in front had been travelling very slowly. They moved into one lane and it turned out to be about 8 horses with small kids on and then at least one adult leading each horse and rider. One ‘Leader’ aggressively waved both cars to overtake. Towards the end of the line another car appeared round the bend coming the other way and it was chaos and really dangerous! Thank goodness the horses stayed calm!

Yanbu. Imo they split into two groups. The first might pass slightly too close, or slightly too fast, or occasionally ‘carefully’ crawl past with their children all hanging out of the window to shout and wave at the nice horses. They can be forgiven, because it isn’t a mandatory part of the test and there’s never been a proper advertising campaign. (It’s been tried but either considered too distressing or relegated to obscure times) That group can be forgiven because it’s extremely unusual for them to do any harm.
The second type are just arrogant numbfucks. You could say psychopaths, given their desire to use their vehicles as murder weapons, but they lack the intelligence and charisma of a psychopath. Probably look up and down before crossing a give way line.
And there’s no point in getting angry, or trying to educate that sort of person. They’ll just bang inanely on about their road tax and none existent alternative places you should be forced to ride in. They’re like deliverance with a smaller gene pool.

That's what I said, but the other ones I quoted also changed in 2022 to those wordings. So both are at fault. The driver for going and the cyclist for going.