Hats and Hi-Viz on the roads - compulsory? (bit of a rant too sorry)

Z

zoeshiloh

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I was just reading on the 'All about Horse forum' part of the forum that some people think high-viz clothing should be made a legal requirement for riding on the road. Whilst I fully support this, at the moment it is not a legal requirement for people to wear hats while riding on the road (I think under 12s have to??). Surely that should be addressed first or at the same time?

I almost hit a horse and rider on Saturday as the person was wearing dark clothes on dark horse. Ironically she was wearing a hat and body protector. I felt like stopping and giving her a lecture, but I doubt they would have listened.

Yesterday I saw a pair of riders near cambridge, at dusk. The lead rider had a small yellow tabbard on, but the rider behind wore nothing bright at all. She was riding a grey horse, but he was wearing a navy blue exercise sheet, so even he didn't stand out.

Despite how stupid and uncourteous some riders seem to be, I do not lose my temper with the next rider I see, unlike some motorists. Surely by having hats and hi-viz made a legal requirement to riding on the road, it might help towards motorists becoming less antagonised?

I recently almost hit a horse - I was driving slowly down a narrow lane, but it was early in the morning, still dark, and the rider had no hi-viz, again in dark clothes and riding a dark horse. She then swore at me for almost hitting her. I told her that if she had been wearing the correct gear I would have seen her a lot earlier, slowed down more, and it would have been safer for the both of us. Her attitude was that I was at fault.

When I nag people on my yard about high-viz they think I am being stupid. One woman used to always wear it, then a youngster turned up who thought it was 'uncool' (she works in a racing yard and they never wear high viz). So now, because this youngster thinks she's god's gift, everyone else has stopped wearing high-viz to impress her. The YO even gave the girl a high-viz exercise sheet to encourage her to use hi-viz, but she just threw it into her rug heap and never gave it another look. Because of her attitude, others are endangering their lives to impress her.

IMO it should definately be made a legal requirement -why do people have such an aversion to wearing it?
 
I think hi-viz should be made a legal requirement.

How daft must people be to not wear a hat on the roads
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Ah now if the answers here mirror my experience this am you should have been driving slower, I nearly hit a man this morning on a blind bend who was wearing a dark raincoat.

Incidently on this same road we have a yard next door of western riders and none of them wear hats on the road
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Hats and hi-viz should be a legal requirement without a doubt. we too have riders that don't bother with either
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very challenging on a leafy country lane, even when you're half expecting it!
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We always have hi-viz on when we're out and about and it goes without saying that my hat is always where it should be - on my head!!!
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LHS - I read your post and tried not to laugh - its funny how its always the drivers fault, and we should either take every corner at 10mph or have a sixth sense lol.

The road I was driving along is a 60 and I was doing no more than 20mph around the corner in question. I have no doubt that if she was wearing hi-viz I would have seen her a lot earlier.

I think I am the only person around our area that wears hi-viz - everyone else always seems to be out in dark clothing. I couldn't care less about how uncool it looks - my horse is worth a hell of a lot more than some random person's opinion.
 
It's a legal requirement for under 14's to wear a hat. So what - as soon as you hit 14 your head is super strong and can't be broken? I think it should be a legal requirement for everyone to wear a hat, unless of private property (you can't legistate against that). I also think wearing Hi-Viz should be compulsory if you are hacking on roads. If you have an accicent on the road, and aren't wearing hi-viz, most insurance companies won't pay out anyway.
 
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I think hi-viz should be made a legal requirement.

How daft must people be to not wear a hat on the roads
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agree with katie here
i never go out without hi viz on (and this is bridlepaths and tiny country lanes so no busy roads, may see about 4 cars on a hack)
if you happen to fall off in fields/open spaces the air medics can also spot you more easily

it should be the law that hats are a must when riding on the road at any age. Even if your horse is a saint who's to say they will not trip, fall on their knees and you fly out the side door!!
 
I agree that it is common sense to wear high viz (and a hat) when riding on the road, but the problem with making it a legal requirement is who is going to police it?
If it isn't enforced then people won't do at, and do our police really have time to deal with this? And lets face it, how many police do you see when you're out riding on country lanes anyway.
 
Yes you are absolutely right.

I heard a story last week of a similar incidence to yours but in this case there were two riders. The driver saw the rider in yellow hi-viz and only realised at the last minute when they were pulling around, that there was an outside rider in pink hi viz. The driver said coming from behind they didn't see the pink hi-viz at all so the message is don't just wear hi viz but make sure its yellow hi viz.
 
It could actually police itself in the long term. Insurance companies could throw out claims if they thought the rider was being irresponsible (which they are!) and the car involved is quite likely anyway to countersue the rider for damage to their car. I got hit by a car while I was cycling - I was turning right, going down the middle of the road with my right arm stuck out, broad daylight - and the w****er overtook me. The witnesses in the cars following behind drove around me in the road and drove off. I was fully insured through the CTC and had legal advice from their solicitor which was to drop it as the driver would sue me for the big hole my pedal had left in the rear passenger door of his car. Anyway, I digress
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So you see, eventually the message might sink in and people would take more care to protect themselves better.
 
I have a grey horse and wear pink hi viz. One of the trade stands at YHL told me pink for a light coloured horse and yellow for a dark one.

I go pink top to toe and have several people actually slow down to tell me how much we stand out. Apparently you can see me a long way off because the pink is so unusual.

The only other person in my area who wears high zis, has a black horse and uses yellow.

It seems people either go mad with the fluoro or don't bother at all.
 
I guess it would make some difference if companies insisted on riders wearing hi viz at all times, but I think it would still be complicated. Not everyone has insurance, and of course you would still get the attitude of "it won't happen to me" which is exactly the sort of people who don't wear hi viz in the first place.
I'm not totally against the idea, although I prefer the idea of educating rather than enforcing, but I'm still not convinced it would be easily workable.
 
I'm getting increasingly fed up of being teased at my yard for being cautious. I turnout my 2yold and lunge my cob wearing a hat and gloves, I never ride without a hat and I wear hi-viz to hack. I also load and unload wearing hat and gloves.

Wearing protective equipment is a matter of personal choice (as is choosing not to wear them) but don't take the p*** out of me because I choose to.

Making hats and hi-viz a legal requirement on the roads would be impossible to enforce, it is however being pushed through 'via the back door'. The sooner people realise that insurance companies refuse to pay out or drastically reduce payments where someone has chosen not to wear protective equipment, the better. I think it is called Contributory Negligence or Failure to Mitigate Loss - but I'm sure someone will know the correct term.

As someone says on their signature on here (apologies for the deliberate mis-quote) - I'd rather be cautious for a second than dead or disabled for the rest of my life.............
 
I have almost hit 3 horse/riders now who weren't wearing hi viz and were invisible on the lanes, 2 of them were from my yard at the time.

I've been told I look chavvy wearing hi viz !! WTF.

Anyhoo, I have a grey and a spotty, I aways have a hat band and a vest on (yellow) and if it's wintery I have leg bands and exercise sheets for the horses.

I thought it was pink hi viz to be worn in the countryside as it clashes most with the surroundings and yellow to be worn in towns/cities as it's more visible vs buildings/roads.
 
I ALWAYS wear hi-viz no matter what time of day or year it is. I wear a yellow vest and my mare has a yellow hi viz strap round her neck, just about to order a tail guard and some leg straps too.
I had a nasty incident last saturday morning and i tell you now if i hadnt have been wearing my hat i would have been done for (it wasnt even a fall, my mare jumped on me and knocked me over trampling me, my hat came off after she caught it with her foot and i have a huge burn under my chin where my hat strap came off, it could have been worse as she caught me in the head but at that point i still had my hat on!)and the same applies to the fall i had before that one where my hat cracked.
I ALWAYS wear a hat.
 
When passports were brought in as compulsory, everyone said they would be impossible to police as well etc etc, and yes, there are definate loop-holes and flaws to the system. However, the thought of it being illegal not to have a passport has meant that nearly everyone has them. Surely the thought of it being illegal to go out without high-viz will make more people wear it, whether it is policed or not?

In my opinion if it becoming law meant just one horse was saved from injury or death, it would be worth it.

As for walkers and cyclists - they choose to be on the roads. My horse doesn't choose to be there - I make him walk on the road, therefore it is my duty to protect him as much as I can.
 
There is 2 of the hunt riders (I suspect possibly hunt staff) that ride around the lanes near us in the mornings. Flat caps on and no hi-viz. The horses are chestnut and dark bay, riders nearly always in dark green Barbour style jackets. They blend in well with the autumnal backgrounds! The only reason I didn't hit them this morning in the morning mist was because I was expecting them.
Some people seem to get away with this and I hope it doesn't catch up with them because it would be an awful lesson to learn the hard way, yet it seems for some people that would be the only way to learn it.
I always have a fluorescent hat band and tabard on me and neck strap and boots or exercise sheet for the horse when I go out, I don't care what people think- if it means a driver see's me even 5 seconds earlier and can slow down that bit sooner and it stops an accident it's worth it.

But making it a legal requirement I should imagine would be difficult to enforce. Good idea in theory tho.
 
I always where hi-viz. It may not be a legal requirement but if a driver hit you because he could not see you your insurers could argue you were guilty of contributory negligence.

Hi-viz gives motorists 2 seconds more to react. Self preservation is not chavvy.

I think driver speed and visibility are two different issues. If you hit a cyclist in the dark, who had no lights on, or a car parked with no lights on a fast unlit road then even at 10mph you might not see hazard.

If you hit a parked car or cyclist in daylight because your breaking distance was greater than your visibility that is a different matter.
 
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As for walkers and cyclists - they choose to be on the roads. My horse doesn't choose to be there - I make him walk on the road, therefore it is my duty to protect him as much as I can.

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I said something like this to my HO. Who 90% of time walks with me and 4 year old (so even he is made to go on road), he has hi-viz on to, so does dog!!!!
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I think it should be enforced
 
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As for walkers and cyclists - they choose to be on the roads. My horse doesn't choose to be there - I make him walk on the road, therefore it is my duty to protect him as much as I can.

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True, but I get sick of being responsible and decking myself and pony out in Hi Viz all the time, only for me to nearly run over (in car... don't ride in dark/dusk) some tit of a walker, in dark clothing, walking with their dog around a blind bend. Probably the same moron who would moan at me out riding if I didn't have hi viz on they "couldn't see me".
I've also been nearly hit a few times whilst in hi viz, so twats are still going to drive like twats, no matter what you wear.
 
At the moment I am guilty of only wearing a Hi Viz hat band but I have just ordered a tail wrap and leg bands for Charlie and will be digging out my tabards etc. I will be seen
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I'm with Tinkerbee really, cyclists do not have to wear cycle helmets or any hi viz and they are just as at risk (and as daft) as some horse riders who go out without.

I wear high viz myself but I never used to, it's more since roads have got busier and people don't seem to be educated about hazards on country roads - they just treat them as a short cut through most of the time.

As far as insurance is concerned - some do stipulate you must be wearing high viz and certainly some are invalid if you're not wearing a hat for certain activities but generally it does not include hacking. However, if you have personal accident cover on your policy, went out riding without a hat and suffered a severe head injury after falling off I do think you'd be hard pressed to claim under your policy!
 
I never wear hi viz, if its getting dark or a sh1tty dull day I dont ride
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I saw someone the other day, lovely sunny day at about lunch time, dressed up like a bright pink lightbulb
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Her horse was wearing a bright blue bridle
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Some people are OTT with it IMHO.
Oh I went to go riding the other day and forgot my hat, so I rode without one!!!!!!!!!!





*quickly runs*
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I never wear hi viz, if its getting dark or a sh1tty dull day I dont ride
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I saw someone the other day, lovely sunny day at about lunch time, dressed up like a bright pink lightbulb
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Her horse was wearing a bright blue bridle
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Some people are OTT with it IMHO.
Oh I went to go riding the other day and forgot my hat, so I rode without one!!!!!!!!!!





*quickly runs*
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I presume you drive? On a sunny day, when suddenly going into shade (tree cover etc) visibility is much reduced. I feel just as at risk in summer as in winter, as to be honest visibility is fairly constant in winter, rather than the extremes of summer.
 
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