Another road casualty. *link contains distressing image*

amymay said:
Wow, long straight road. Poor animal.
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Actually, the spot is just beyond a blind hill, little visibility if travelling too fast. Horse riders, cyclists and slow moving vehicles are all at risk, the road is 40mph just there, which is too fast. The safety assessors were out after the accident, so hopefully something will be done as there are 2 yards just a few hundred metres away.
 
Oh my goodness poor Ruby!!! That is heartbreaking!! I agree, I think people need to be more aware of the consequences of their actions and a TV ad if done in the right way could have a really big impact. It's the same with motorbikes, they scare the life out of me, they come from nowhere and wizz past before your horse even has the chance to figure it out. There is a complete lack of respect for our horses on the road, it's disgusting!!
 
wildwoman666 said:
full story here
http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.u...half-trailer/story-16153887-detail/story.html
Its so bad when will drivers learn.
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Advanced driver trainer hat on here .....

Looking at the road situation in the pic which shows the poor horse on the ground I can see double white lines which is ok to overtake anything less than 10 mph BUT to overtakes 3 horses with a blind summit and right hand bend is absolutely brainless

Any normal driver would have waited behind one horse let alone three until they had a good view of the road ahead

I bet I know what went throught that trailer towing drivers head - I can blast past those three and dive in before the summit/bend

Ever tried to MAKE another person think differently? - it cannot be done - they have to choose to do it for themselves

Whats that saying ... you take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink
 
I wouldn't be responsible for my actions if my boy was ever harmed by an idiotic impatient driver! Seriously, what is wrong with this people, until 200 years ago horses were still the main form of transport, in the whole scheme of things that's is a tiny amount of time.

Why do people rush, it's better to be 5 minutes late in this life then 50 years early to the next!
 
ROG said:
Advanced driver trainer hat on here .....

Looking at the road situation in the pic which shows the poor horse on the ground I can see double white lines which is ok to overtake anything less than 10 mph BUT to overtakes 3 horses with a blind summit and right hand bend is absolutely brainless
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I noticed that too. Shouldn't have been overtaking at a speed which could have caused this amount of injury to the horse:mad: In fact, shouldn't have over taken at all IMO

RIP Ruby
 
It is disgraceful. I have recnetly started hacking my mare alone, she is good on the roads and rarely puts a foot wrong (she is a TB so we have the odd spook but that is all)
I love riding her on the roads and trust my horse, but the cars scare the life out of me! People do not respect horses on the roads anymore and it is hard to find a brdielpath near your yard these days. I only have 10 minutes of road until my bridle paths but that is more than enough for me!!

Something needs doing about horse and rider awareness as well as more bridle paths being created for riders ro be able to ride safely.

RIP Poor horse, my thoughts are with all concerned :(
 
I think it's all in very poor taste to share this as people are doing. The image isn't particularly powerful; it's not shock-gory, not does it show the damage a horse could do to a car, like the new forest campaign which uses shock tactics to much better effect. This is just a load of armchair protestors sharing the image to get their 'I feel passionate about something so let me on my soapbox' kick.

Sadly, accidents do happen, be it car on car, car on horse or car on pedestrian, we will never irradicate them completely, getting all het up doesn't solve anything.

Someone I know, a very well mannered, well regarded gentleman, hit a horse and caused it fatal injuries - it jumped out of a field and straight onto the bonnet of his car. Whilst distressing for the owner, not a single person at the scene asked if he, the driver, was ok (he wasn't, that memory will haunt him forever) and he was made to feel much worse than he already did, as if he had intentionally mowed down the poor beast.

The online newspaper article is shoddily written - where referring to 'severed in half' implies the horse was broken in half (yet the rider remained unharmed, physically impossible if horse were in fact, 'severed in half'). Obviously what the crap journalist meant was that the horse sustained a broken leg, which was immediately noticeable as broken right through.

Maybe it's a good idea for everyone to stop and think for a little longer before getting up in arms. And leave the marketing campaigns to the professionals.
 
FFS, 3 horses in a row... on a no overtaking area... on a blind hill... while towing :mad:

Why does common sense not prevail and brain kick in. Waiting for a good moment to overtake or for the horses to pull in to a suitable passing area takes minutes.

RIP Ruby

Pan
 
AprilBlossom said:
I think it's all in very poor taste to share this as people are doing. The image isn't particularly powerful;
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How can you possibly think it's in poor taste? It's a poster designed by the owner and rider of the horse to highlight what happens when someone drives without due care and attention. The more people that see it the better.

It has been published on FB for people to see, comment on and share.

As for not powerful - well if you need to see the guts of the horse to be moved, I can only suggest that voyeurism is more your thing than campaigning for safer roads.

Also, April, the incident you refer to with the horse jumping out of it's field has no bearing on this accident, although of course no less distressing for owner and the poor driver.

And what 'professionals' are you referring to exactly???
 
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I haven't looked at the link, I already know how stupid careless and thoughtless a lot of drivers can be, we need stiffer sentences all round for headick driving no matter what, they could start by increasing the fine for mobile use to £600.00 + points or more, if you can't pay you lose your car.
 
It's not my thing, it's my opinion that shock tactics are an effective campaigning method, this picture, whilst sad to horse riders, won't evoke much emotion in your average joe driver, who sees a horse on a par with a motorcycle - a machine.

I'm all for respect on roads, obviously, but accidents happen all the time, and horses are lost from incidents like this far too regularly - the next thing you know there'll be a Facebook group solely for 'aftermath' images...it's diluting the message albeit in a well-intended amateur way.
 
AprilBlossom said:
It's not my thing, it's my opinion that shock tactics are an effective campaigning method, this picture, whilst sad to horse riders, won't evoke much emotion in your average joe driver, who sees a horse on a par with a motorcycle - a machine.

I'm all for respect on roads, obviously, but accidents happen all the time, and horses are lost from incidents like this far too regularly - the next thing you know there'll be a Facebook group solely for 'aftermath' images...it's diluting the message albeit in a well-intended amateur way.
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I understand your point of view from this post. However wouldn't have gone for 'poor taste'.

I do agree with what you're saying. However I think that something needs doing. We've had several accidents on a main road by us - all horses escaping and causing accidents, yet the police when called to an escaped horse by a friend didn't even bother turning up! She was left to deal with someone elses semi feral horse.

I don't personally have a solution, but don't think enough is done by the police, driving agencies (I never had anything regarding horses in test or lessons and we live in a country-side area where more people are killed hitting/avoiding animals than anything else seemingly) or other bodies in a position to do so.

Pan
 
AM the incident I refer to has bearing in that it illustrates horses are unpredictable and sometimes (admittedly not all the time) it might not be the car driver at fault. Just because they've come out of the accident better off than the other party doesn't automatically apportion blame with them. Has someone obtained a quote from the driver stating that they were performing a careless overtaking manoeuvre because they were in a rush to get home?
All I'm saying is there are two sides to every story, and it doesn't come across well constantly playing the innocent party. It's not nice to admit but sometimes it could be partly down to the rider, I know when I was young my friends and I were probably lucky to have avoided a serious accident as we allowed silliness from the horses on roads, and generally weren't the best at beig observant or signalling, and I've seen behaviours like this from a number of riders myself when driving. Yes, I take care an slow down around them, but it works both ways and I don't think young riders are educated well enough about reaponsible road riding anymore - they just have the fear of god put into them and are told to expect all cars to slow to 2mph and work around them...the give and take of sharing roads has been lost somewhere along the line and I don't think it's entirely down to drivers.
 
Does anyone know when Downing Street was last petitioned for better road safety and/or stiffer penalties for drivers who're reckless around horses? 100,000 signatures and it has to be debated, I believe.

My absolute sympathies go out to the owner and rider of Ruby.
 
Pan, I think 'poor taste' spring to mind as it reminded me of a local horsey FB group wanting to use a similar image to help defend themselves at having been pulled up for rising on footpaths in a 'this is what will happen to everyone if we can't have our own way'. Apologies, this has a different intention I know, and maybe if a professional campaign is launched this image could be used to help promote road safety.
 
AprilBlossom said:
Pan, I think 'poor taste' spring to mind as it reminded me of a local horsey FB group wanting to use a similar image to help defend themselves at having been pulled up for rising on footpaths in a 'this is what will happen to everyone if we can't have our own way'. Apologies, this has a different intention I know, and maybe if a professional campaign is launched this image could be used to help promote road safety.
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Understood, yes it easily becomes poor taste, I just couldn't see from the context of this thread when first posted. Agree with this post entirely :)

Pan
 
AprilBlossom said:
It's not my thing, it's my opinion that shock tactics are an effective campaigning method, this picture, whilst sad to horse riders, won't evoke much emotion in your average joe driver, who sees a horse on a par with a motorcycle - a machine.

I'm all for respect on roads, obviously, but accidents happen all the time, and horses are lost from incidents like this far too regularly - the next thing you know there'll be a Facebook group solely for 'aftermath' images...it's diluting the message albeit in a well-intended amateur way.
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I've shared it... With the comment that drivers should be aware of horses, cyclists, motorbikes and pedestrians... I'm an ex biker and know too many dead or maimed courtesy of idiotic drivers... Others can probably count pedestrians or cyclists in multiple numbers...

I don't need explicit blood, guts n' gore type images to take note and acknowledge a need for drivers to keep an eye out for more vulnerable road users...
 
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