Horses and cars - wtf!!

[GertrudeCB]

I will start by saying that I did some riding as a child, a looooong time ago, but no riding on roads.
I've just seen a report on the local news regarding road safety for horses and riders, with helmet cam footage.
When did some people start driving like imbeciles around horses ? Speeding past, honking horns ?? I live in a semirural area and see horses on the roads a couple of times a week - you slow down, pass wide & don't rev/ honk ect. Surely it's just common sense ?

I barely ride near roads any more as drivers are shocking.

Last year my horse was nearly hit by a 17 year old boy speeding around a blind bend at 60mph.

Lots of people are very nice and very polite but the odd one spoils it regardless!

It's terrifying on the roads now. I was hit by a van driver and broke all the bones in my foot and did the ligaments in my leg. I was on crutches and in a cast for 10 weeks

God that's awful. It should be covered on the driving test.

I was riding on the road a few years ago with my young daughters when a van driver shot past fast round a bend shouting and swearing at us. We got the name of his company from the side of the van and phoned to complain about him and he got a warning from his employer.

Where I am some people are campaigning for horses to be off the roads. “Ride on bridle paths” “ride through fields” etc.

Issues with this are: to get to bridle paths you have to go on the road, farmers don’t like you just riding through their fields. Where I ride some are ok with it but not all.

Generally though most people I’ve encountered are courteous and pass wide and slow but you get the odd idiot.

Quite a few years ago my horse and I was deliberately clipped by a car Id asked to slow down o a narrow country lane, he flipped the horse over and we landed up in a ditch he didn't even slow down! I am very nervous of traffic.
Now I went bright yellow all the time, keep my horse 1/3 in from the curb so they are more likely to slow down to get round you and as I approach a bend I go right out into the middle of the road. I share most byways with motorbikes who in fairness are usually very courteous but when it seem them coming I turn my horse sideways and block the byway forcing them to slow down and preferably stop I will also do the same thing on the road when a bus is coming towards me a=to make them stop. I always go out of my way to thank drivers even though I'm on a very young horse who is sometimes dancing around a bit.
The two things that really irritate me when I creep past a horse and rider is if they don't even acknowledge the effort Ive made to as careful especially of they are on their phone and secondly that most wear browns blues greens etc. since purchasing a bright bright yellow jacket I've noticed that driver definitely slow down, and give you a wider brith probably because they see me sooner.

People are bonkers. It's like they don't realise half a tonne of horse coming through their windscreen won't seriously inconvenience them too - to say the least!

I'm often on the roads, sometimes with a horse in hand too, and I've come to the conclusion that common sense no longer exists. There are those who drive around narrow lanes as though they won't meet anything else - my horse is easier to shove down a ditch than a car coming the other way for sure. People who rev up and speed past deliberately are common enough too - you really need a good, trained horse to ride out these days, and be constantly on the look out for the next idiot trying to kill you.

But there are also those who see a horse in the distance, panic and slam their brakes, stopping in the middle part of a narrow section of the road where I can't fit past them, instead of just continuing to drive slowly towards us where the road is wider (and I may have stopped if necessary).

My personal favourites are those who can't, or won't, reverse - I've been "trapped" on a narrow single track road before, with a van behind me who would have to reverse half a mile around 2 blind bends to get to a passing place, and a car in front of me who refused to reverse 20 feet on straight road to a passing place to let me and the van past. Fortunately the van driver had a few words with that one !

Also, people on horses (or bikes!) not wearing hi vis. Ludicrous. I use mostly orange, with some yellow, for most of the year, and mostly yellow in autumn (when the leaves etc are brown and orange blends in more). I also make sure my horses wear some of the hi vis in case they get loose on the road while we're out...

I’ve been out with my riding instructor before and her horse can be a bit spooky. A car was right up her backside and the driver beeped the horn. Her horse freaked out, and kicked the car then sat on its bonnet.

The driver was pissed. But what did he think would happen.....

It doesn't help that the BHS (and riders) are spreading misinformation. According to the highway code the arm to the side and up and down means 'I am slowing down or stopping' and must not be used for any other purpose. It is not an instruction asking drivers to stop and must not be used as such. Cyclists and motorbikers use it for the correct purpose, it is only horseriders (due to the fault of the BHS) that have got it wrong. And as a result are putting themselves and others in danger - every rider/driver as a result of the BHS campaign will misread the true hand signals of bikes.

This is the info shared by the UK cycling clubs - this is correct

The DVLA further confuses matters by also including right hand up and down for turn right.

However nowhere in the highway code does it allow anyone to request that other road users comply with something, only give guidance on what they themselves are doing.

www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/signals-to-other-road-users

Further information from a driving school

I don't understand why people don't want to slow down. Selfish tosspots. I want the horse and rider safe and i don't want my car dented. Not too much of an ask is it? My dad and his horse were hit once. Driver totally hooning round the road. Luckily neither dad or the horse suffered anything too drastic BUT the horse changed from a totally bomb proof Andalucian into a nervous wreck and dad had to road break her all over again. Not a small thing with a 10yo stubborn Andy. Then the cheeky fucker driver tried to sue my dad for damage to his van!!!?!

I don't understand why people don't want to slow down

I once asked someone who was well know for going fast past horses why they do it and their reply was that they have been told horses are unpredictable and just want to get past them as quickly as possible. In their idiotic brain they are being a hazard for as little time as possible. When I explained how and why to pass safely it was like a lightbulb moment. They'd always though hazard - must get past quickly. Just a little bit of education and they now drive differently.

Definitely more education/ awareness needed. Must say that the vast majority of riders by me wear high visibility.

The roads are crazy round here.

DD was hit a few weeks ago - out with a couple of other adults, all riders and horses wearing hi-vis and some knob head tried to force his way past on too narrow a road with cars coming the other way. He just drove off leaving DD and the rider behind in the ditch. Fortunately no serious injuries. Despite the car behind knob head capturing the whole thing on his dash cam the police weren’t interested

The attitude round here seems to be that horses shouldn’t be on the roads and DD usually avoids them but sometimes you have to, even for short distances for one bridleway to another.

My favourite comment has been that ‘horses shouldn’t be on bridal ways as they’re ruining them’

I think the roads are just generally not safe any more. I wonder if our lanes are busier because of sat navs sending people on them.
It’s almost safer here to ride along a busy a road with buses etc than to ride on a quiet country lane because people drive at stupid speed around blind bends.
We should reclaim our lanes, not just for riders but for walkers and cyclists too. A really simple bit of legislation to reduce the speed limit on all roads with no central markings wouldn’t even cost anything.