Driver never slows down - anything I can do????

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CazD

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Hi. The lanes around by us are all single track lanes. One of the locals is a horse hater and always speeds up whenever he sees us on the roads. Even if we signal him to slow down he ignores us. Is there anyone he can be reported to. Or is it a case of waiting until he hits one of us before something can be done??
 
is he breaking the speed limit?
is his driving deemed to be "dangerous"?
if so, take his reg number and report him EVERYTIME you see him..
 
May not be appropriate if he's a true horse hater - but would it be worth speaking to him? If you know who he is and he's local. Obviously not if he's going to get agressive but might be worth speaking and trying the "nice way" first?

When I ride out I carry a schooling whip and find that if you hold it at arm's legth it at least makes the cars give you a wider berth - not ideal but might give you a bit more room if he refuses to slow down?

Otherwise get his number plate and report him each and every time you see him!
 
Take his number, and report him to the local police. If it is anything like round us, there are usually lots of local policewomen anyway who ride and would be sympathetic. If you can go into the policestation yourself, I'm sure you can persuade them to at least chat to him about the dangers of frightening horses.

A friend of ours had a BMW speed past him gesticulating when he was riding - bad move as one of his liveries was a policewoman, and she followed him to the Tesco's round the corner, where he found himself being ticked off when he got out of his car - very satisfying!!!
 
I've thought about reporting him but I'm not sure whether I'd be making the situation worse. Talking to him wont help - he is very aggressive. The only time I did manage to get him to slow down was when I planted our youngster in the middle of the road as he was going to drive past her at speed in his tractor (he does it in the car too). He did stop but kept revving the engine and bawling at at both. I doubt he is breaking the speed limit as I'm guessing the lanes probably come under the national speed limit of 60mph. They are all single track though.
 
You need to contact your local police. Does this happen on a regular basis. At a particular window of time in the day?

If you and some others can prove that he does repeatedly then the police may be able to do something. Certainly he is not driving with "DUE CARE and attention" it may even constitute dangerous driving.

At leat if you report regularly you can build up a history of repeat offence. Make sure you get a crime number for it. It should be relativly easy to show that hes a persistant offender. Then the police could have a word in his ear.
 
From New Highway Code
Instructions for drivers are:
215
Horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles.
Be particularly careful of horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles especially when overtaking. Always pass wide and slowly. Horse riders are often children, so take extra care and remember riders may ride in double file when escorting a young or inexperienced horse or rider. Look out for horse riders and horse drivers signals and heed a request to slow down or stop. Take great care and treat all horses as a potential hazard; they can be unpredictable, despite the efforts of their rider/driver.

Sounds like this driver is disregarding this rule so quote it when you report him to local police
He may counter claim that you deliberately hold him up when he is working
 
Wow, thanks Cuffey. Will remeber that one. A friend an I were on a hack not long ago and before we reached teh main road...where everyone slowed down and passed wide, on the lane that runs past the yard we had a driver not only speed past us at around 70mph, but he also flipped us the bird AND he had his entire family in the car...wife and kids! I wonder if he realises he could have killed them all, even if he has not thought for the horse and rider asking him to slow down in vain. Drivers like that make it very tempting to fill my pockets with gravel. One thing though...and this is going abck 20 years. I used to help exercise polo ponies. When we went out with the owner he used to take a hunting whip...any car that went too fast got the horn end on its roof...principle being that the horses were worth more that the prats car. I miss those days when you could hack from Haslemere to Chiddingfold without getting squished, in fact you used to be able to hack most places without getting squished.
 
Thanks Cuffey - that is really helpful. I would try using a long whip but I'm scared that if I do anything like hit his car with a whip he might do something worse like deliberately drive into a horse. Yes, I know he'd get his comeuppance but that wouldnt be much use to my horse.
 
Can you take a video of his driving past whilst on the horse, maybe on your mobile phoneif you have video on it? I know it will be hard trying to control horse as well as camera but at least you will have some evidence. Not sure about the legality of using a mobile whilst riding as its illegal to use one whilst driving so check first before doing!!
 
Or a hatcam?!
grin.gif
 
go and chat to the police, explain that you are sure he is deliberately driving aggressively around the horses and that you simply want to avoid an accident. take his number, description of car, times and dates it has happened, etc.
 
Two things I have tried in the past.....
firstly try a long schooling whip with flourescent tape on the end and hold out at right angles usually works and gives you a bit of room. If that doesnt work then tie a couple of fishing weights on the end of said schooling whip - wont damage the car but should make him jump if he comes close enough to make contact with it (but remember don't tap your horse with it outherwise you could end up breaking the speed limit!!).
But you must take his details, timings etc and report to your local police station as it is an accident waiting to happen.
Good luck
 
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