Emergency vehicles and horses on the road.

Fii

Fii

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I have been lucky so far and have never been riding on the road when an ambulance, police car or fire engine has been on an emergency, but have often wondered what would happen. Obviously i would get out of the way ( if i could) but do they slow down for horses and switch their lights and sirens off. Has anybody had any experiance of this happening?
 
Yes, both a Police Car at major pace and a Fire Engine, both of which switched off blues and twos, passed relatively slowly then sped off. Both of which also thanked me. I must say with the police car tho I have never been so glad I had my high viz on as they were going at such a speed along a narrw country road I doubt they'd have seen me if I wasn't wearing them.
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Happened to me once, they just belted past me sirens blaring. Thankfully horsey was very good if a bit shell shocked. I got more of a fright than she did.
 
A local firefighter told me that whenever possible they do switch off sirens when passing horses, but obviously if they come round a bend and you are there they have very little time to react and do so.
 
Have had fire engine come up behind my mare - I could hear them coming so pulled onto verge and they turned off the siren and came past at a sensible pace !
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(I always wear hi-viz too though although visibility not a issue in this case).
 
I was hacking out alone on a country road that is hardly wide enough for two cars. By a miracle I happened to glance back and due to the undulating hilly road saw the fire engine from far behind. Lights were going but no siren. I trotted on to the corner where I halted and waited for them to have a chance to see me, then turned and actually went into someones driveway as they wouldn't have got passed me. They turned off lights and went past slowly, then went off on their way!
 
Yes they do follow a code drilled into them when taking their tests but unfortunately it must have bypassed the ambulance coming up behind me and my 7 yr old daughter a few yrs back, they got to 20ft behind us and put the sirens on, cue a small pony with a smaller rider doing the fantango up the road...............
 
I did wonder if it was part of their training, obviously every second counts for them but also not causing another accident must be priority as well .
 
I was hacking home from hunting in February and was fortunately on a wide grass verge about to cross an A road when an ambulance came round a bend. He had plenty of time to see me but had to be flagged down to slow, he turned off the sirens, but left lights on, hurtled past and didn't look very pleased.

My TB didn't actually give a damn (he was more annoyed with me for making him hack home, when all his mates had gone in wagons) but a spooky horse would have been in trouble.
 
when my daughter first got her 5 year oldhorse and took her out for her first hack she had a near miss with a police car. All hell had broken loose in the village as someone had tried to run a policewoman over. The police car drove behind her and her friend and a little girl on a pony at a very high speed with its lights and siren going. It would her horse up so much that she started to mess on the road and the car just carried on going past. My daughter said she just shut her eyes in the end and prayed as she thought she was going to die. she felt the car go past. I immediately phoned the police to complain and it turns out that the driver rode and drove horses and had seen my daughter earlier in their ride having a few problems as the horse was shying at things. He should have known better and slowed down and turned his siren off
 
only time i ever met anything they were brill (granted they were going to our farm) but they slowed right down & turned off the lights/sirens, wouldnt have fazed Bess or Rocky in the slightest bless them.
they all knew me as i lived in the same small town that i (& my grandparents) was born in.
 
I encountered a police car coming up from behind with lights and sirens on. I was wearing high vis, and got on the pavement/ a wide driveway and stood sideways to the road so that they had every chance to see me. Came flying past no slower and didn't switch lights or siren off. Luckily F bless him didn't move an inch.

Someone on here advised me to call my local county police and speak to their PAD desk (public assistance desk) and report a "near miss involving a police vehicle". They said to also get a incident number as this would mean it had been logged on their system.

A lovely chap investigated it. Said it had been someone from another county (which made it worse because that presumably meant they didn't know the roads) respoding to an emergency call, but that they SHOULD have slowed down and switched siren off when passing a horse. I think he got hold of their seniors and had them B*****ked and said he would ensure that their whole county got a reminder of what to do when they see horses and riders.
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I don't believe they have to turn off their lights: just the sirens. As with skipping red lights, they are still responsible for any accidents that they cause when responding to an emergency: the idea is to get there as quickly but also safely as possible.
 
I had this problem in Scotland with a Fire Engine. I was on my old gelding who has been on TV, in numerous films and worked on the set at Pinewood Studios and is as good as gold in traffic.

They turned off the siren but not the lights, which worried him, they stopped and I hopped off. I rang the local emergency planning officer and explained why it is important to turn off the lights if they had they would not have had to stop.

My concern was it delayed their journey.

There should be emergency planning officers in every part of the UK. Perhaps BHS local development officers could highlight this problem.
 
IME sierns off and lights left on but on straight main A road (30mph), not had a fire engine yet. but all others fine
 
I was riding a short stretch on an A road one day. I saw the ambulance coming towards me and had a stream of traffic behind me, including a horse waggon directly behind me. Parked cars on the left. There was no-where to go and I could see the ambulance drivers gestering at me wildly to get out of the way -where to?. I made the decision to trot forwards and try to get to my turn off. The ambulance driver then put on his siren as he approached me, my horse spun round and tried to bolt the other way. It was a nightmare and one I was lucky to get out of unharmed. Needless to say I rang the ambulance depot to complain. My horse is now terrified of sirens.

Imagine my horror a few weeks later when riding on a narrow country lane and I could hear and see a fire engine coming up the hill behind me. Fortunately this time they did turn off siren, but not before my horse had really spooked, but I managed to turn into a farm entrance. They were very irate with me as they'd had to slow down.

I've got a few friends who've had similar experiences over the years.
 
Several years ago, when we were hacking our new mare home, from her previous home along a fairly narrow country lane which is a long bend with a high bank on the left, (round Castle Hill for those who know Hudds) an ambulance passed us with the light flashing, needless to say the 3 humans present were rather apprehensive.
Fortunately the mare took absolutely no notice whatsoever of that or the milk tanker which passed us twice.
It was a different story though when we passed the field of cows.....
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We were once hacking on a coutry lane when a car with its boot open and stuff falling out if it came flying past us .. at 60mph at least!

It was followed seconds later by a police car .. they did turn their lights off but only slowed down to about 40mph.

We were lucky to get into a little layby just in time .. and think it all happened too fast for our horses to even react!!

At the time I did think the police car would have slowed down ... but I assume the 1st car was stolen and it was heading towards a village so I guess their priority was to keep up / catch it!
 
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At the time I did think the police car would have slowed down ... but I assume the 1st car was stolen and it was heading towards a village so I guess their priority was to keep up / catch it!

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No his priority is to ensure that he drives with due care and attention on the roads, and then catching the bad guy.

Emergency vehicles have to slow down for any hazard on the road - a person, another car, a horse.
 
My mum was riding one day when an ambulance came round the corner on a two lane country lane with sirens and lights on. My mum isn't the most competent of riders (I'm not trying to be awful), and my sisters horse (who she rides 2-3 times a week) takes the pee a little - he is 18 and knows better.

Anyhow, horse turned when ambulance came flying round the corner and ran (I think in trot) down the road away from it, and my mum fell off, letting go of the horse in the process. Luckily they were only 500m from home (on the way out) and horse went straight back. Ambulance picked my mum up and took her to the stables, sorted the horse and then took her to hospital - she was just a bit bruised, nothing major.

Worst thing was, the ambulance man called my sister and my sister almost freaked thinking what had happened to her horse - ambulance man's first words were ' now your mum is fine...'

I think thats fairly out of the ordinary though, and they didn't have chance to turn their sirens off (coming round a blind bend) although in fairness, maybe on country roads they should think whether they need all lights and sirens on.
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Police - do and will turn b&2's off if they can / have chance when they see any riders and on a shout, after all don't really want another incident to go to as well! It is part of the driver training alongside cyclists etc - but worth remembering more than one type of driver training for Police :-) On country lanes it's as important to have them on as it is on a dual carriageway - you never know what's round the corner - and after all, the lights / sirens are there to warn alert you to the fact they're coming!
 
They have always been very good with me. Usually they give the thumbs up as they pass!

I know they are in a hurry, but I am thinking they are "professional" drivers, done all sorts of courses and things so they seem to be extremely observant and helpful.
 
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