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Post by jor on Dec 19, 2005 19:57:18 GMT 1
Following on from the 'right of way' thread
If anyone has any stories of drives causing problems, like everyone mentioned on this thread please will you email them to me?
I may start to compile letters of incidents on the road involving horses.
Special interest in those incidents reported to the police and then not followed through in a satisfactory mannar.
I may also set up a petition to help raise awareness amungst the general public about horses on the road.
If anyone has any Ideas please get in touch with me as Id be more than interested to hear them.
obvisouly road safety is something pretty important to me and im sure im not the only one who has lost a horse on the road.
I will actually copy this message to a new thread.
Just copied this message over.
I will contact the BHS about a peition.
If in the meantime anyone would like to send me a signed support letter with regards improving awareness of horses on the roads PM me and I can give you my address.
Cheers
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Post by marywelsh on Dec 19, 2005 20:03:46 GMT 1
hi joe
my friend was on her horse when a van hit her, it swiped down the side of her horse,resulting in my friend in hospital and the horse badly injured, you can still see the marks on the horse as the van hit her side, belly and face, we all now do very little roadwork , the man in question was on his mobile phone the matter was taken no further as cps said they couldn,t prove he was driving carelssly, and this man showed no remorse, it was disgusting,
we also use to have a bus driver who believed horses shouldn,t be on the road so would drive up behind you very fast and basically scare the living daylights out of us, the police were called in and were very helpful i don,t find the police the problem, they do their job it is what happens after that, that the system seems to let us down
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Post by marywelsh on Dec 19, 2005 20:04:49 GMT 1
sorry jo, for some reason i have turned you into a man.
kentucky is on my brain so typing goes to pot (he he)
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Post by jor on Dec 20, 2005 18:20:06 GMT 1
up please. I will work on a draft letter for people to print and sign then send.
When i get my teeth into something I dont tend to let go....
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Post by jill on Dec 20, 2005 18:53:50 GMT 1
Glad to hear someone else has Jack Russel tendencies like me!! If anyone wants to email or write to their MP you can find out their address on www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm, and you can email, and in my experience a good constituency MP will reply fairly quickly. Another useful means if anyone has the time and inclination (I have the inclination but sadly, not the time) is to lobby the BHS. The union I'm a member of has set up a parliamentary group of MPs (of any party) who are in sympathy with what the aims are, and I would have though the BHS could do that if they haven't already. Such a group can ask questions in the house, speak to the relevant minister as well as outside organisations, and generally further the aims of the BHS provided they are not in direct conflict with the general public. |
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tammy68
Grand Prix Poster
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 1,868
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Post by tammy68 on Dec 20, 2005 18:57:45 GMT 1
The policeman I spoke to said that it was best for people to write their own letters, obviously with their own experiences on, as this would give more clout. However, if people don't have time or prefer to then a prewritten standard letter would be better than no letter at all.
Just say what help and support you need and if I can help in any way then I will. I, like you, don't like to give in and feel very strongly about this as I know there are a lot more accidents waiting to happen out there and if we can save just one horse or rider then it will be worth while - hopefully though, it will make a difference to more.
As it says in the Highway Code, a lot of the horse riders on the road are actually children, perhaps there is a figure for deaths or injuries to children that could be mentioned? Also, as someone mentioned on another thread, some people will respond more if they think their precious car may get damaged, this is worth pursuing perhaps as most people have cars and may relate to something they know much more than a horse which they know nothing about. The best way to get to people is by something they can relate to.
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Post by mellymoo on Dec 20, 2005 19:50:26 GMT 1
I will be in touch with my MP tomorrow! I don;t have any injuries to report (thankfully), but when I was out on Hamish we nearly got side swiped by an impatient car - I was moving Hamish onto the verge to let the car through, since there were parked cars on the other side, but he couldn't wait fr 10 seconds and just drove at us! He was so close to us, Hamish spooked like mad (can't blame him at all), and I just wish I had managed to get his licence plate! Sadly not, but he will get what's coming to him - what goes around comes around....
Also should mention boy (and girl) racers and van drivers on country lanes - wish their tyres would all burst so they end up in a ditch!!!! Not hurt, but a wrecked car - might make people think a bit.
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pip
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 3,797
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Post by pip on Dec 20, 2005 20:25:07 GMT 1
The address for your MP is
Mr. .......... MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Many (all?) also have their own websites and email addresss.
Good luck with the campaign.
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Post by jill on Dec 20, 2005 22:24:59 GMT 1
What precisely are we going to be asking our MPs to do - come up with new legislation? Encourage the CPS to prosecute? Ask the relevant Secretary of State why more isn't being done? Ask the Secretary of State to initiate a new TV ad campaign? It's fine to put the problem to him or her, but I think it would help if you had a definite course of action you are asking for. Any of the above, any more ideas on here?
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Post by wildrover on Dec 20, 2005 22:49:32 GMT 1
No question its an issue that should be kept in the public eye - many drivers not necessarily deliberately dangerous but ignorant of how a horse can behave etc ....
On the other hand - also need to keep in the public eye the ignorance and need for awareness of riders.
For instance like the girl I seen one day crossing a fast dual carrigeway on a horse- she was stood at an opening in the central reservation having crossed half of the dual carriageway - this meant that the horse's head was out over the fast lane in one direction while the horse's back end was out on the fast lane of the other direction! I had driven past before I realised what I was seeing otherwise I would have stopped.
Another I heard was of a girl hacking on New Years Day 2000! Bad weather, foggy and smoggy after the fireworks the night before - I understand a car hit the horse and had to be destroyed. I dont know the circumstances but I did think it sounded unwise to be hacking on that day!
Or the local girl who has long blonde hair and likes to hack around with no hat and the hair flowing in the breeze of the trot. Cant make up my mind whether she does it for show or whether she does not want to disturb her hair ... either way not clever.
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Post by wildrover on Dec 20, 2005 22:52:59 GMT 1
.... and it aint always women either.
Seen a guy one day - white jeans, white teeshirt, sunglasses, no hat ... riding bareback on a busy street. Clearly it was designed to show off .........
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Post by jennyb on Dec 21, 2005 7:29:00 GMT 1
Yes but think of the nice dirty mark on the bum of his white jeans when he gets off......from the grease on the horse's coat of course!
Jo, I really think you would be better off encouraging people who have incidents or accidents on the road to let the BHS safety department know. Head of safety is Sheila Hardy, I believe, and having spoken to her personally on a different issue, I know she is sometimes frustrated by horse owners being up in arms about something, but not reporting things to the BHS so that she cannot act on our behalf. The incident I spoke to her about was low flying aircraft - very common in Lincs and the cause of death of Heather Bell not too long ago. Sheila said that she had spoken to the relevant authoraties about it, and they all wanted evidence of incidents - she had about 10 cases. Not enough to demand change (at the time), and yet lots of people in Lincs will moan til the cows come home about low flying aircraft and the problems they cause for their horses.
The BHS need to know of incidents, so whilst what you are proposing is a good idea, can you please copy any letters or forms you get and send them to the BHS. They have a bit more power with the MPs and might be more likely to get changes made! Would also agree that you need to think what you want out of this - changes in laws, ad campaigns, etc.
Incidentally, the BHS being a registered charity MUST, according to charity law, spend donors money according to the donor's wishes. Therefore, if everyone who feels strongly about this sends £10 to the BHS asking them to use it to fund a prime-time tv ad about equine road safety, they would have to put it into a little pot and use it to do just that.
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Post by mudlark on Dec 21, 2005 8:54:33 GMT 1
First of all, TV ads are so expensive that unless you're a huge corporation you can't buy enough to make an impact - radio ads are much more effective and cheaper, and can be targeted to rural areas where this is a problem (you'll have the greatest difficulty getting anyone in urban areas to give a monkey's about this issue). even better, I think, would be for the BHS to approach the RAC and AA etc and ask if they could have access to their databases and mailshot their members with a plea for consideration for horses, or perhaps get an article into whatever newsletters etc they send out to their members, with a horror story to bring home the danger to themselves as drivers. Also, I'd look at contacting driving schools and the driving-test people and trying to get the message hammered home to people learning to drive. if you wanted to lobby parliament about anything, I'd ask for something about horse-related safety to go into the driving test, and for the highway code to have a specific section about it. I'm sure most of these drivers, even the boy racers, are not evil people, just oblivious to the danger they are causing.
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Post by starlight on Dec 21, 2005 14:53:37 GMT 1
I've seen the ads on TV, they're effective although not aired enough.
Probably the worst experience I've had on the road (luckily) was last weekend when I asked a 'white van man' to slow down, so he leant out of the window, stuck his finger up and called me a 'stupid b*tch'!!
But the consolation was that he was fat, bald, pikey and ugly, so no wonder he's angry at life......
I definitely agree there needs to be more awareness of how to drive around horses - I'm sure most people aren't deliberately rude or dangerous, they just don't know that they should be passing wide and slow (there seems to be a general lack of common sense!). Perhaps if it was introduced into driving lessons and tests, and stated more clearly in the Highway Code, people would learn when they learnt to drive, how important it is.
I do feel angry that other riders don't help, by riding without hats and flourescents, and riding dangerously on the roads. One local girl regularly rides her (very stroppy) pony out on the roads with no hat or flourescents, (yet the pony is 'dressed up to the nines' in standing martingale, pelham and breastplate - for a 2 mile hack on the roads - no wonder he's permanently got the hump). She also rides with her friends, two and three abreast on narrow country lanes, and none of them thank drivers who drive considerately.
Incidentally, the girl fell off her pony a few weeks ago, whilst on the road, and talking on her mobile!
So whilst it is important for drivers to be made more aware of road safety, other riders also need to have the same respect......
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