I wish some people would drive slower on lanes

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Janah

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Just back from a short hack. Two instances of drivers going too fast.

First a car hurtled up behind us on a straight road. Must of seen us, wearing hi-viz. Actually speeded up to pass us. Couldn't believe it, one sideways step and it would have been all over for all three of us!

Bit later I heard a lorry coming at a fair spit, out of sight round some bends, I had nowhere to go. As he came onto the straight bit where I was he stood on his brakes and the lorry sort of bounced to a halt just in front of us. As I walked past I said "I think that scared you as much as me". He did give me an apologetic/wry smile, he did look a bit shaken up.

I am just so glad my boy is good with traffic and doesn't normally shy, only about three times in the 11 years I've owned him. He is worth his weight in gold to me. I am starting to think twice about hacking out at all but can't bear the thought of just working in the arena.
 
This jogged a memory with me - not about horses actually but just as scary and just to prove that it's not just these days that lorries can drive too fast.

About 40 years ago my boyfriend (now husband :)) and I were driving along a lane in N Wales when this lorry came hurtling around a corner. I still have a vivid memory of OH standing on the brakes of the mini and then trying to get it into reverse and this truck hurtling towards us. It actually stopped about 3 ft from the front of the car after leaving a trail of rubber - I don't know who was whiter - us or the driver:eek:
 
Oh dear, tell me about it. Took my unbroken boy out for a walk to do some bombproofing. We were hi-vizzed up to the eyeballs and he's not a complete nutjob so I trust him completely. BUT, I still like people to slow down when they see us. It's only courtesy.
 
I wish people would drive slower when I meet them in my car never mind when I am on my precious horses :(

I find this time of year particularly terrifying when the hedges are overgrown and the sunlight can cause poor visibility.
 
On the other hand, I stepped over to let a car pass as I walked out in hand last night and had to keep waving furiously the driver to pass me as it seemed they were frightened of what the horse might do when actually she was getting agitated by them just sitting there!!

I must say I think everyone drives too fast on country lanes because you just never know what is round the next corner, horses or not.
 
Iv had numerous people, mainly women actually and surprisingly see me coming, cant miss me as im high vizzed and instead of pulling in/slowing down or in some cases even stopping (quiet backroads I may add) they sit there, all stiff, both hands on the steering wheel and decide to put their foot down!!!!! Why? They dont even have the man parts to look me in the eye as they whizz past... All i can do is shake my crop at them.

Now to me its just plain manners to slow down, turn music off in the car and go past nice, wide and slow (or is this just me!) - out of respect to both horse and rider.

I am not an inconsiderate rider. If I can hear a car behind me, il either pull right over or slide in behind a parked car to let people go so im not holding them up. As im fully aware people want to just get on with their day. Sometimes I have nowhere to pull into, so we go into a steady trot until I find a suitable place to turn into and iv had people litterally trying to drive up the back of my poor horses legs as they cant possibly wait another second. To me, if I was in the car behind someone like this, id know they were trying to get a move on for ME to get past.

I always make sure to smile and thank people who have been patient and shown some manners. Those that decide to try and have me off the road end up with numerous hands signs and a wide variety of choice words.
 
I know the feeling, a few weeks ago I was hacking out on the traffic-proof one and saw a car hurtling towards us in the distance (very open country roads) saw the car then try to go round a corner, spun round several times and ended up with the front of the car embedded in the hedge, and his bumper a short distance down the road. Just glad I wasn't by that bit of hedge at the time, as no matter how bombproof you horse is, you can still get hit by an out of control car.
 
Joanna710 said:
Oh dear, tell me about it. Took my unbroken boy out for a walk to do some bombproofing. We were hi-vizzed up to the eyeballs and he's not a complete nutjob so I trust him completely. BUT, I still like people to slow down when they see us. It's only courtesy.
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Oops, smelly old phone posted before I had time to unleash my rant. To continue...

If drivers stopped to think logically every now and again (and maybe took a cheeky peek at the Highway Code), they'd realise that slowing down for horses + passing wide = far less chance of having your car dented/ damaged should they end up hitting a horse through their own negligence.

Whilst out with my boy, we were just passing into a 30mph limit area when I heard a car coming towards us at speed. Sticking my arm up and signaling for the driver to slow down, I watched as he continued to drive towards me with no inclination of slowing down. Feeling brave I led my boy out into the road and held my hand up for the driver to stop. The courteous gentleman kindly stopped his Porsche less than 2 metres from my horses nose, wound down his window and shouted "What did you do that for, I could see you from miles back!" Slightly shaken up by the notion that the car may have not stopped in time, I managed to blurt out something along the lines of "Yes you saw me, that's the point of the hi-viz, but you weren't going to slow down." To which he gave me a filthy look, revved his engine and dodged round us without a backwards glance.

I always try to be a courteous rider, moving into driveways, laybys and suchlike when vehicles are looking to pass. I don't want to be one of those inconsiderate, self-important people who feel they can boss the world about, but I won't let someone put my animal's safety at risk just so they can get past 30 seconds faster. Oh grumpgrumpgrump, I'll crawl back into my corner now ;)
 
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If I want to enjoy some of the many scenic hacks in my neck of the woods I have to ride down a wooded single track lane with many blind bends. This is a 'no through road' for half of its length(1 mile in total). The majority of the locals are fantastic(most of them have crashed on this lane!) We get the occaisional lorry and plenty of farm traffic,who are usually great.............But work vans,delivery vans and one young driver make this route unnecessarily dangerous. Such a shame.
 
sadly they don't drive slower because they don't have to national speed limit of 60mph applies to most lanes/country roads :( Doesn't really make sense because a lot of the lanes aren't suitable to be driven around at that speed, a huge majority are so badly surfaced these days that going at 60 throws the car all over the place, then add in the blind bends, poor visibility because of the overgrown hedges and it's an accident waiting to happen:( Round here it seems that drivers think the speed limit is actually a minimum speed rather than maximum, i tend to go at about 40 on the lane past the farm, but the amount of times i've had cars sat on my tail trying to make me 'hurry' is unbelievable:mad: it doesn't work of course, i have been known to brake suddenly at something only i can see and they soon back off;) having a 4x4 with a big towbar on the back does have its advantages:p
 
Hanzybaby01 said:
Iv had numerous people, mainly women actually and surprisingly see me coming, cant miss me as im high vizzed and instead of pulling in/slowing down or in some cases even stopping (quiet backroads I may add) they sit there, all stiff, both hands on the steering wheel and decide to put their foot down!!!!! Why? They dont even have the man parts to look me in the eye as they whizz past... All i can do is shake my crop at them.

Now to me its just plain manners to slow down, turn music off in the car and go past nice, wide and slow (or is this just me!) - out of respect to both horse and rider.

I am not an inconsiderate rider. If I can hear a car behind me, il either pull right over or slide in behind a parked car to let people go so im not holding them up. As im fully aware people want to just get on with their day. Sometimes I have nowhere to pull into, so we go into a steady trot until I find a suitable place to turn into and iv had people litterally trying to drive up the back of my poor horses legs as they cant possibly wait another second. To me, if I was in the car behind someone like this, id know they were trying to get a move on for ME to get past.

I always make sure to smile and thank people who have been patient and shown some manners. Those that decide to try and have me off the road end up with numerous hands signs and a wide variety of choice words.
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The flamin' SCHOOL RUN WOMEN!!! They make me so mad! Driving along in nice family cars with little girls who probably like horses in the back, do they slow down? No, they speed up! What is wrong with these people? Makes my blood boil. Had a bit of a spooky hack yesterday, went round more road than usual and of course all the idiots were out. I always wave and smile if someone makes a real effort or has to actually wait behind for other cars to pass, and usually nod if someone passes in a vaguely considerate manner, I wish there was some way I could say 'you are lucky this horse isn't as bad as some!' among other things... I'm going to need a bigger tabard!
 
mandwhy said:
The flamin' SCHOOL RUN WOMEN!!! They make me so mad! Driving along in nice family cars with little girls who probably like horses in the back, do they slow down? No, they speed up! What is wrong with these people? Makes my blood boil. Had a bit of a spooky hack yesterday, went round more road than usual and of course all the idiots were out. I always wave and smile if someone makes a real effort or has to actually wait behind for other cars to pass, and usually nod if someone passes in a vaguely considerate manner, I wish there was some way I could say 'you are lucky this horse isn't as bad as some!' among other things... I'm going to need a bigger tabard!
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This is the thing, the horse I ride at the minute is of a weekend, so no school runs, so theres no need for people to try and take half the horse out.

We also try and keep as much to the back roads as possible to keep out of everyones way and also make sure me and the horse is safe. Theres about 30 mins of road to deal with before we can get to any of the hacking places so the best I can do is keep round the quiet roads.

But quiet roads = lots of parked cars. So trying to make my way along the road trying to find a suitable place to pull into is sometimes a bit difficult and seeing a woman drive head on at me clearly not going to stop and just scrapes by is just unbelievable and makes my blood boil.

Its the posture they tend to adopt. Go all stiff, both hands on the wheel at 10-2 accompanied by white knuckles, shoulders hunched, eyes wide and deliberately ignore you when they whizz past.

Alot of my issues have been people coming head on at me, so there is no excuses. They also tend to be in the car with husbands (8 out 10 of the time recently) and/or children. What sort of example is that setting the children?

Grrrrrrr:mad:
 
I think all lanes should be limited to at least 40, if not 30. Its absolutely mental that the limit is 60 on narrow, bendy lanes. Can't understand the logic at all and it needs addressing.
 
Coop said:
I think all lanes should be limited to at least 40, if not 30. Its absolutely mental that the limit is 60 on narrow, bendy lanes. Can't understand the logic at all and it needs addressing.
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Yep.

OP, that's exactly what my hacking's like. :( Lanes where even if you're in a car you brick your pants if a big car's heading towards you fast and not getting over, there's just no room. On a horse I think it takes nerves of steel and I haven't got them anymore, I've had too many close calls. Vans and rattley work trucks are the worst culprits IMO.
 
I find that very often the drivers who don't slow down until the very last minute are the same ones who are (totally illegally) simultaneously on their mobiles. I am very annoyed that these folk seem oblivious of the law, and that the police never seem to stake out the country lanes to catch them. It is blindingly clear that drivers with mobiles clamped to their ear have slower reaction times.
 
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