derricks
Well-Known Member
Have any of you guys out there had a near miss or been hit by a car? this is what has happened to me and my horse and cannot belive the police are going to do adsolutely nothing !
On Thursday 10th Aug at 7.45 pm I was riding along a narrow country lane in Wellington Somerset. There are however several passing points along the lane which we all use to pass traffic safely.
As I approached a narrow part of the lane I saw a silver 4 X 4 come around the corner and start to approach me from the opposite direction.
A few yards along this particular stretch there is a passing point which is visible from both directions. To my horror the 4 X 4 driver drove past the passing point, I knew that he had seen me, I had a fluorescent bib on as always and he started waving his arms at me signalling for me to get out of his way.
As he approached me I knew that there was not enough room for the 4 X 4 and my horse he was still waving at me to get out of the way, but there was no where for me to go. The 4 X 4 continued to drive towards me so I stopped my horse and pushed her over as far into the hedge as possible there was not enough time for me to do anything else.
As the 4 X 4 attempted to pass me I looked at the driver and shouted stop the vehicle hit the front of my horse, at this point she instinctly spun to the left away from the vehicle ending up facing the way in which we had just come. To my astonishment the driver continued to drive forward hitting her back legs, my horse then instinctly kicked out at the car damaging the bumper, she then galloped up the road with me, closely followed by the car.
Once I had managed to stop by my horse the driver of the Silver 4X4 parked opposite me and got out of the vehicle he then started shouting about how his car had been damaged. I tried to explain that this was in no way any fault of mine or my horse as he had literally driven straight at me, to which the driver replied was a load of rubbish. The driver of the 4x4 was extremely intimidating and kept walking towards my horse still shouting at me , my horse was shocked by what had just happened, and kept backing away from him.
The driver of the vehicle then walked off down the road to collect the parts of his car that lay in the road, this was obviously more important than the welfare of me and my horse, who incidentally had obvious cuts to her back legs and was bleeding.
Once he had managed to pick up the pieces of his vehicle he came back over to me and continued to shout . This upset both myself and my horse even more. He kept asking for my address and name, I told him my name and that I lived in just up the next road and assumed he would give me his details in return but he did not. I could not see the registration number of his car as it was parked side on to where I was.
My main concern was to try and keep my horse as calm as possible, I knew that I should not dismount in case my horse got away from me. I knew that there was nothing I could do for her legs until I got her home.
After a few moments another car came around the corner from the opposite direction, the driver of the 4 X 4 put his hand up to the driver of the other car and got back into his vehicle to move it out of the way, so I thought.
To my amazement he then just drove off, leaving me to cope with my horse and her injuries alone on a country lane. In disbelief I proceeded in walk, home, luckily I did not meet any more vehicles that evening.
Upon arriving home I was met by my by my husband who could see that I was upset. After explaining what had happened he went to call the police whilst I bathed and dressed my horses cut legs. At that time my horse had calmed down and luckily her injuries looked superficial and she was not lame. I decided to turn her out in the field with her companions so that her legs would not swell or stiffen up.
The police took all of the details but as we did not have the vehicle drivers name we were unable to pursue it. I decided to contact the local paper to try and trace the driver and even waited at the scene of the accident for a few evenings afterwards at the same time of the incident in case it was a regular route the drive took. Unfortunately I could not trace him
kicking the car and that the lump may never go down. I compete regularly on my horse at unaffiliated dressage, SJ, XC and showing, although this lump is not affecting her movement at present it does affect her overall confirmation for showing and may cause problems in the future.
I am a competent and experienced horse rider, I have taken and passed my road safety test and would never take an unsuitable horse out on to the public highway.
Before the accident my horses was always well behaved and good in traffic alone and in the company of other horses. Previously living in Bristol had meant that this was really important as the roads were a lot busier than in Wellington. Unfortunately my horse is now petrified of all moving vehicles and hacking out is no longer an option.
A few weeks later a letter arrived from the solicitor of the driver of the car trying to claim £40 for the damage to his car.
I contacted the police again and they came and took all of the details, and admitted that he had committed an offence by not reporting the accident with in 24 hours dispite this they are not going to take any action against this driver. I find this very disappointing and extremely worrying as maybe the next horse and rider he comes across on the road will not be so lucky !
On Thursday 10th Aug at 7.45 pm I was riding along a narrow country lane in Wellington Somerset. There are however several passing points along the lane which we all use to pass traffic safely.
As I approached a narrow part of the lane I saw a silver 4 X 4 come around the corner and start to approach me from the opposite direction.
A few yards along this particular stretch there is a passing point which is visible from both directions. To my horror the 4 X 4 driver drove past the passing point, I knew that he had seen me, I had a fluorescent bib on as always and he started waving his arms at me signalling for me to get out of his way.
As he approached me I knew that there was not enough room for the 4 X 4 and my horse he was still waving at me to get out of the way, but there was no where for me to go. The 4 X 4 continued to drive towards me so I stopped my horse and pushed her over as far into the hedge as possible there was not enough time for me to do anything else.
As the 4 X 4 attempted to pass me I looked at the driver and shouted stop the vehicle hit the front of my horse, at this point she instinctly spun to the left away from the vehicle ending up facing the way in which we had just come. To my astonishment the driver continued to drive forward hitting her back legs, my horse then instinctly kicked out at the car damaging the bumper, she then galloped up the road with me, closely followed by the car.
Once I had managed to stop by my horse the driver of the Silver 4X4 parked opposite me and got out of the vehicle he then started shouting about how his car had been damaged. I tried to explain that this was in no way any fault of mine or my horse as he had literally driven straight at me, to which the driver replied was a load of rubbish. The driver of the 4x4 was extremely intimidating and kept walking towards my horse still shouting at me , my horse was shocked by what had just happened, and kept backing away from him.
The driver of the vehicle then walked off down the road to collect the parts of his car that lay in the road, this was obviously more important than the welfare of me and my horse, who incidentally had obvious cuts to her back legs and was bleeding.
Once he had managed to pick up the pieces of his vehicle he came back over to me and continued to shout . This upset both myself and my horse even more. He kept asking for my address and name, I told him my name and that I lived in just up the next road and assumed he would give me his details in return but he did not. I could not see the registration number of his car as it was parked side on to where I was.
My main concern was to try and keep my horse as calm as possible, I knew that I should not dismount in case my horse got away from me. I knew that there was nothing I could do for her legs until I got her home.
After a few moments another car came around the corner from the opposite direction, the driver of the 4 X 4 put his hand up to the driver of the other car and got back into his vehicle to move it out of the way, so I thought.
To my amazement he then just drove off, leaving me to cope with my horse and her injuries alone on a country lane. In disbelief I proceeded in walk, home, luckily I did not meet any more vehicles that evening.
Upon arriving home I was met by my by my husband who could see that I was upset. After explaining what had happened he went to call the police whilst I bathed and dressed my horses cut legs. At that time my horse had calmed down and luckily her injuries looked superficial and she was not lame. I decided to turn her out in the field with her companions so that her legs would not swell or stiffen up.
The police took all of the details but as we did not have the vehicle drivers name we were unable to pursue it. I decided to contact the local paper to try and trace the driver and even waited at the scene of the accident for a few evenings afterwards at the same time of the incident in case it was a regular route the drive took. Unfortunately I could not trace him
kicking the car and that the lump may never go down. I compete regularly on my horse at unaffiliated dressage, SJ, XC and showing, although this lump is not affecting her movement at present it does affect her overall confirmation for showing and may cause problems in the future.
I am a competent and experienced horse rider, I have taken and passed my road safety test and would never take an unsuitable horse out on to the public highway.
Before the accident my horses was always well behaved and good in traffic alone and in the company of other horses. Previously living in Bristol had meant that this was really important as the roads were a lot busier than in Wellington. Unfortunately my horse is now petrified of all moving vehicles and hacking out is no longer an option.
A few weeks later a letter arrived from the solicitor of the driver of the car trying to claim £40 for the damage to his car.
I contacted the police again and they came and took all of the details, and admitted that he had committed an offence by not reporting the accident with in 24 hours dispite this they are not going to take any action against this driver. I find this very disappointing and extremely worrying as maybe the next horse and rider he comes across on the road will not be so lucky !
