tammy68
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Post by tammy68 on Dec 19, 2005 10:32:50 GMT 1
Can anyone tell me if horses have right of way over cars and other motorized vehicles on the roads? I seem to recall from somewhere that there is an old law which has not been rewritten. Yesterday, a young boy racer came charging down his parent's drive and rattled loudly over their cattle grid at the bottom. Three of us were on horses having just passed the bottom of the drive. He pulled straight out without stopping to check for traffic and frightened my daughter's pony as she was at the rear of the ride. She was pretty shaken as she is only 12 and was riding her new 14.2 who is used to main roads and heavy traffic and is not easily spooked. Is there some law which can stop people doing things like this? It is people like him who can cause normally traffic proof horses to become fearful and it makes me so cross that they can be so thoughtless and dangerous and yet get away with it! A few years ago, a coach overtook a friend who was leading their daughter on my pony whilst a lorry was coming towards them. This pony had never been scared of traffic before, but this really frightened him as the coach passed so closely and quickly to avoid the lorry. He was always frightened of bug vehicles after that. Another time a BMW came flying up behind us and skidded to avoid oncoming traffic which was coming round the bend ahead. This frightened my mare, although the effect was not lasting, fortunately. Quite often vehicles will overtake whilst traffic coming in opposite direction which means that they pass so closely that I could touch them. My horses tend not to worry about traffic but are inclined to spook if a bird flies out of the hedge or if a dog in a passing garden makes a noise. This would cause the horse to jump into the traffic. All this happens in our village on the A road which we have to go along to get onto any lanes! It makes me so mad!
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Post by smudge on Dec 19, 2005 10:57:30 GMT 1
Hiya I don't think Horse Riders have the right of way over vehicles, however, they should be afforded the same respect as (just read the Highway Code quick!). He should have been more careful and given you as much room as he would have given a car - and as much respect. However, I am not 100% certain. We get them down our lane - most slow, or stop and are great - some whizz past as though they haven't even seen us. The worst experience I had though was with a cyclist who screamed and shouted at Gracie (with Moll aboard) because she didn't move out the way fast enough (she was riding next to me). Psycho or what!! Bring back cycle bells I say!!
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tammy68
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Post by tammy68 on Dec 19, 2005 11:05:50 GMT 1
Mornin' Smudge! Cycles are required to have bells on by law I think. I am sure that all bike dealers have to fit a bell to every bike they sell. Any tips to make the drivers think twice before driving so disrespectfully and dangerously? How about a riding whip with a message on? If so, can you think of any messages? I'd love to have a sharp end that didn't catch the horse but would scratch someone's paintwork! Roads seem to get busier every year.
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Post by jor on Dec 19, 2005 11:08:34 GMT 1
Yes horses have right of way on the roads. Most motorists dont know or ignore this though!
If you got his numberplate report him to the police.
I was out riding with two friends once, I was on the inside of one of my freinds as I was on a young horse (4yr old been backed 6 weeks) and we were on a busy ish road. We had a driver come right up behind the horse at the rear beeping his horn and revving his engine literally inches from the horses hocks. This caused the horse at the back to shoot forward into my youngster who tripped on the kerb as she sidestepped to above the horse from behind. It resulted with us both falling as she couldnt regain her feet, very very fotrunately the person who was riding on the outside of me saw she was going down and jumped off her horse to grab her reins before she got back up and shot off down the road. What amazed us all was that the person who had caused the accident drove round us beepind his horn then stopped the car in the middle of the road and started screaming at us that we shouldnt be on the road with dangerous animals and just to LOOK at the damage one of the horses did to his car (shouldnt have been driving so close!) He actually called the police himself insisting that we had purposefully made the horse kick his car anf another fall over and it wasnt his fault (yeah right) it backfired as four people who had seen the incident stopped to help us and to make sure this bloke didnt drive off, we were also fortunate that one of the people who stopped was horsey and held onto my youngster whilst i recovered then examined her cuts and scrapes.
Its amazing what some drivers do on the road.
I was put in hospital for three months by a speeding driver going straight into the back end of one of my horses, sadly the horse died at the scene but I was very lucky and although I will live with some injuries for the rest of my life I can still function, miracle was mentioned many many times. Ive been clipped whilst leading out, beeped at and had abuse yelled at me out of the window of cars at me, even had a truck litterally drive me off the road whilst riding (I ended up in a ditch on a very very frightened pony)
Someone else I knows pony was killed by an inpatient driver who tried to squeeze past them on a narrow lane and a car came the other way, the driver swerved straight into the pony, my friend is now in a wheelchair yet the driver spent only about 4 months in jail?!Again another person, although I never met the horse i met the rider, she was crossing a road from one bridleway to another on a 30mph limit road when the horse was hit by a car that was caught by a speed camera round the corner doing 60+ mph. She was thrown from the horse before he was hit, she said to me she is sure that the horse knew the car was coming and threw her to save her life....who knows?
I get really angry and frustrated by the way riders and horses can be treated on the road. Too many horses die on the roads every year because of idiots driving. Most of these horses die because a car is speeding or the driver is impatient. The fact that I know of three horses that have died on the road in the last 6 years must say something?
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tammy68
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Post by tammy68 on Dec 19, 2005 11:17:21 GMT 1
:oOMG! That's so awful! Your experiences make mine seem trivial, but I feel sometimes that we have just been lucky at the time as there is such a fine line between a near miss and total disaster. There must be something that can be done to help prevent more accidents and near misses. I can recall seeing an ad from BHS on TV about cars and horses on the roads, but it didn't run for long and I only saw it once. I think that there are so many drivers who are ignorant to the risks of driving too closely to horses. I think perhaps they think (when they do actually think) that because there is a rider on board that the horse is totally in control and forget that this animal does in fact have a mind of his ownn and being an animal it can be, at times, unpredictable. I think something quite gory is needed like the current drink/driving campaign, so that people have a picture to bring to mind as to just what can and does happen.
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Post by gem on Dec 19, 2005 11:20:56 GMT 1
I always ride two abreast now after nearly being taken out when an impatient driver tried to overtake while a lorry was coming the other way and wasnt stopping!! Now I ride double as the cars then have to give the same respect they would to a car. the cant overtake unless there is room!!
Horses do have right of way as I checked this with the local station and they advised me to ride two abreast!!
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Post by Val (Toons&co) on Dec 19, 2005 11:25:11 GMT 1
Wow Jo R, I don't think I would have the guts to ever ride on the roads again if I'd experienced anything like this. I realise I've just been lucky as so many motorists over here are completely unaware of how to deal with horses and our code is not helpful at all in this respect: hardly any mention but to say that we are allowed on the roads and have to follow the code like other road users and that riders have to be in control of their horses at all times. In other words, if a driver can proove you did not have sufficient control of your horse, you'll be the one paying, unless you can proove the driver went too fast (and we all know that a 60 mph speed limit is not slow around horses). No mention of passing wide either.
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varkie
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Post by varkie on Dec 19, 2005 11:54:50 GMT 1
Without meaning to be pedantic, in law nobody has 'right of way'. There is no such thing. You can have 'priority', but not 'right of way'. Apparantly you can take the girl out of driving instruction, but you can't take the driving instructor out of the girl! Yes, I believe that horses on the road have priority.
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Post by jor on Dec 19, 2005 11:59:53 GMT 1
talking about a TV advert, if a picture of the traffic accident that landed me in hospital for a long time was put on the tv I think youd find an instant change in riders being more careful and drivers driving more carefully. I was lucky that i was knocked out but when I was shown pictures it was horrifying.
What actually happened was a speeding car came round a corner up a hill and the driver wasnt paying attention, he drove straight into the back of me and my horse so hard the horse was sat on the bonnet of the car (both his back legs were broken instantly) the car was going so fast he couldnt stop quickly and severved across the road into the path of a bus, because the horse had been pulled up it was the horses head, neck and front legs that hit the windscreen of the bus, i was catapulted over the top of the car that had hit us onto the road behind the car and was hit again by another car (I dont remember anything after realising we were going tp hit the bus) The horses neck was broken on impact with the bus and died, thank god he didnt suffer for too long. However the pictures of him lying in the road were horrific, there are pictures of the car that hit us with a huge dent in the bummer and bonnet and the windscreen was smashed to pieces, there was an impression of the horse (literally) in the front of the bus and the windscreen and there was blood everywhere and my poor horse was just a pile of hair and tack on the floor. Just the thought of it sets me off in floods of tears now and I hardly remember any of it, the only real memories I have are of riding along the road chatting to my horse and then of going towards the bus and looking at the driver of the car whod hit us.
Noone else was seriously injured in the accident and as I said lord knows how I survived.
Definately think those pictures would send a chill through anyones spine. maybe along with the tape recording of the woman who rang the ambulance on the day it happened, ive heard that too (was to help with flashbacks and some serious sleep issues) and it sounded like a disaster with some screams and a guy shouting for blankets and someone else yelling that the horse was dead etc etc
maybe I could get hold of these things again and launch my own campaign on road saftey and awareness.
Its not just horses who end up victims, its children too, a car travelling at 60mph on a 30 limit is not going to be able to stop for horse, child or anything else that happens to be in its path.
People whinge about speed cameras and speed limits and fines yet they forget they are there to save lives. If my horse had been hit at 30mph he may have survived and it may have saved me a hell of a lot of trauma. Hell if the guy had been driving at 30mph he may not have hit us at all.
The worst thing is that vicitms of road accidents have to live with it forever be it through the loss of a horse or loved one or through injuries, yet the drivers who have caused accidents seem to get away very lightly. The man who killed my horse and injured me is free to live his life and drive about in his car wherever he may be. Why is it that the people who cause these road accidents seem to get away so easily as they can claim they 'lost control' or 'didnt see them' or some other stupid excuse?!
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pip
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Post by pip on Dec 19, 2005 12:03:49 GMT 1
There are some terrible stories on here. Have all these accidents been reported to the BHS? Horses should be treated "as vulnerable road users" but not all drivers have ever read the Highway Code.
OP - your experience was not a happy one, but where you all wearing High Viz clothes so the driver could see you clearly? Some accidents cannot be avoided, like when a car skids into a horse, after all, there are road accidents with 2 cars/lorries, etc. every day all over Britian. The Police aren't that bothered if a horse looses its life, they are really only interested if a human is injured.
The only thing that riders can do is to make sure they can be seen clearly, make sure they obey the rules of the road and keep off roads as much as possible. You cannot legislate for idiot/agressive/ignorant drivers.
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tammy68
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Post by tammy68 on Dec 19, 2005 12:33:27 GMT 1
I have worn fluorescent tabard for years when hacking out but it doesn't make much difference. We are visible and yet still drivers choose to overtake when other vehicles are oncoming. Also, the crazy young driver yesterday saw us as he looked up as we were standing at the bottom of his drive waiting for someone to catch up behind before moving off. I actually met his look so know he saw us, plus the drive is fairly open so he could see us as he came down the drive. He was literally about 5m away from us as he went full pelt over the cattle grid. He'd just been washing the car so he probably felt the urge for a blast in his gleaming metal! The road we have to ride along is straight mostly and sowe are easily visible to traffic. The BMW that came up from behind me knew he was approaching a lone rider on a horse and could see also that the bend ahead was blind and so anything could be approaching. Nevertheless, he still carried on to overtake me and the sound of his brakes screaching as he had to swerve and stop to avoid the oncoming car frightened both me and my horse. I try to hack out when the roads are least busy because of these D...head motrists but it is so nice to get out onto the lanes so the horses have a change of scenery and I don't see why these idiots should drive us off the roads. We are just as entitled to use the roads as they are and horses were here first! I think there ought to be more bridleways for us to use as the roads are getting busier and busier each year and we are slowly being driven off the roads until there will be nowhere left to ride without having to pay out to hire off road rides and indoor schools!
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jan
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Post by jan on Dec 19, 2005 14:01:55 GMT 1
We had a couple of nutters yesterday - one guy speeded up so that he could overtake us before a car coming the other way got so close that he couldn't. Luckily my boy altough still quite young and green, just danced a bit and settled straight back down, but if the driver had misjudged - it would have been carnage.
Another driver came down the road at about 70 miles per hour - this was round a bend with a blind driveway just the other side of the bend. We were waiting to cross the road and if a car had been coming out of the drive (they sell Xmas trees) it would have been a real mess.
We had one elderly gentlemen stop to let us cross the road and while I was waiting for the drivers on the other side to notice us - the old guy beeped his horn at us to get a move on.
I think we ought to petition for a road safety awareness ad-campaign, both in local areas and nationally.
Any ideas as to who nationally we should start contacting?
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Post by mellymoo on Dec 19, 2005 14:54:36 GMT 1
Oh my God Jo R, how awful!!!! Sadly, it is only horrific images such as those that happened to you that might make people more aware of how to behave on roads - riders, drivers, cyclists, everyone. If you want to start a campaign, I'm right there with you!!!
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Post by Casper on Dec 19, 2005 19:18:32 GMT 1
Jo R, I am for once completely lost for words. I cannot begin to imagine the trauma this has caused you. My biggest hang up is hacking on the roads - and other than an incident with a tractor which was Bobby being scared of it rather than anything the tractor driver had done - have nothing to base this fear on. Having read this thread I can now see just how right I am to feel apprehensive. Luckily we can do a lot of hacking off road, but inevitably will need to be on the roads occasionally, and especially next year when we start to do Trec.
If you start a campaign I am so there with you too. x
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Post by jill on Dec 19, 2005 19:31:16 GMT 1
The BHS have a road safety campaign from time to time, as I recall. Maybe time to get in touch with them - any members? Other than that, I suppose the police who have to clear up after incidents. If anyone has witnesses and a car number to report, I'd think you could report someone for careless driving or driving without due care and attention. If we all did that word would soon spread among the drivers of this world. But I've been in incidents (no serious injuries, fortunately, unlike some on here) and the last thing on your mind is taking (and remembering) a car number. Local press??
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