Road accidents/abuse

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ironhorse

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I'm researching an article on the perils of hacking out and I would like to include some case studies.

Anyone been involved in an accident/near miss with a speeding car?

anyone get abuse for their horse going to the toilet on the road or simply for riding somewhere they're perfectly entitled to be - whether this is a new off road route shared with walkers/cyclist or even on suburban roads?

Please feel free to email or pm me if you don't want to post all the details; I'm also happy to chat over the phone if you'd prefer. email jane@ironhorsemedia.co.uk
 
I had a very good one a few years ago! I was out hacking on my event horse who spooked, stood up & flipped over backwards on top of me. He then trotted down the road, crossed over a main road & got hit by a car - which was speeding (we believe doing 60 in a 40 limit). The woman driving only had 3rd party insurance which is when the fun began!

Because she was speeding and the way the road was laid out, the insurers decided I was not liable. If she had been going at 40 she would have been able to avoid my horse. As a result, she got no payout for her car which was fairly old & probably only worth about 1500. I got abusive phone calls, letters, had her turn up on my door step demanding money. It was great! About a year ago which was at least 5 years after the accident, I bumped into the woman in the supermarket. She started screaming abuse at me, demanding money from me, telling me I owed her 3K for a new car & her emotional hardship - I ended up abandoning my shopping & getting out of there.

If you want to hear more about this lovely little incident feel free to PM me.
 
I have had someone hurl abuse at anyone (including horse riders) on a road which goes through his yard (but it is a right of way). He blocked it off years ago! We're fighting to have it opened again but TBH I doubt Id want to ride past his house anyway, he set his dogs on my brother years ago...!
 
have pm'd you but for everyone else, these are my worst experiences.

I was out riding a friends mare a few years ago, a 16.2hh grey ID thats a little nervous in traffic, and was just returning to the yard when a white van came towards us, nothing out of the ordinary there. It had two rattling ladders on the top-very scary!! I pulled into a passing place whilst trying to calm the mare down. The van continued at the same speed (above th limit of 30 in the village) and as he approached i could see he was on his mobile. he wound down his window and instead of the polite and grateful thank you i was expecting, he said "yeah, thanks-tart!!!" I just stood there open mouthed in shock!! I have been riding the same route for the past 4 years and have never ever come across such rudeness!!


I have also been hit by a car on the same mare. I pulled into a layby to let an oncoming car pass in a lane and the driver accelerated to pass me which spooked the mare. she swung her quarters out and the car hit her bum, swiping the wing mirror off and into a million pieces on the road. The driver gave me his insurance details and I had to dismount and walk home. a very kind gent did stop and offer to get his daughters trailer for us but we were only half an hour away and running on adrenaline so no lameness.

Hope that helps!
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We had abuse hurled at us by a young lad on christmas day! He was doing well over the speed limit in the middle of the village (I could hear him coming before he even got round the corner). I signaled for him to slow down as my friend's OH who is a novice was with us but instead he shouted something out his window at us. I only made out one word and that was f*cking! so much for the season of goodwill!
I also had someone driving far too fast stick his fingers up at me as he went past on Sunday.
My favourite though was when I was out riding with a friend. A driver came far too fast round a blind bend on a narrow road while using his mobile phone. He just missed us and I said to my friend "what a twat", not realising he had his window open. He stopped and shouted back "you should be in the f*cking field"
To be honest I meet my fair share of people driving too fast or too close, but most of them aren't abusive, just blissfully ignorant!
 
I was invloved in an accident 3 months ago - on my previously traffic proof and bomb proof mare! Perfectly straight stretch of road, clear visability, broad daylight, reflective gear on horse bla bla bla - 21 year old lad drove his modified clio into the back of my horse at 35-40mph. I got thrown - both injured - horse not back in work yet although expected to be soon, and who knows when my injuries will settle for me to be able to ride again. Lad was a total idiot - fortunately his insurance have admitted liability - although he refused to notify them. It really isnt safe any more - we had a miraculous escape really- feel free to pm me if you want to know more
 
Been hit by 1 car and 2 near misses. I was riding up a straight road on someone elses horse, the horse lost its footing and moved its bum over sligthly, the car was too close and fast they hit the horse and me and the horse hit the deck, luckily no injuries.

Had my mare out one single track country lane that just goes up to yard and a farm with high banks and hedges so poor visability, wearing hight viz, could hear car comming, but couldn't do anything about it. He stopped with horse's head and kneck over bonnet.

Next time was on ordinary country road, is used by commuters, again wearing high viz, car comming the other way at speed being over taken by another car on a blind bend. Luckily there was gap in the hedge which we dived in. Hate to think what would have happened if it hadn't been there because this car was flying.
 
I've had some idiot lean out of the window and slap my hinny on her rump! luckily she was pretty idiot proof so ignored him.
A few weeks ago I was leading Malaga and another twat (Probably the same one) thumped the door of his transit and shouted at him.He's only young but he remained calm luckily my mules have more brains than most of the drivers round here
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I had what we considered a near-miss eight years ago. I was hacking my boy, Mickey, back from the school where we had our lesson; it was a little country lane which, as it is pretty much a dead end, does not lead to much (except a large equestrian centre.) Anyway, my friend and I were following on single file, when a red Corsa came zooming past, forcing my friend off the road and Mickey and I into the ditch. The car did not actually touch us, but he must have passed us at at least 40 - 50mph so there was nowhere to go. Having lost his footing as he struggled to remain upright, Mickey ruptured his check ligament, which, ultimately, led to us losing him a month later.
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I was riding out on a fairly busy road when a load of lads came past tooting their horn several times. My horse bolted across the road behind them but I managed to steer into a hedge and stop. Meanwhile the lads had gone round the mini roundabout 100 yds up the road and come back to repeat their actions! Tooted again, shouting and hollering out of the window etc. Horse took off again. TBH I was just lucky there were no buses or lorries coming.
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Just out of curiosity I wonder whether any of the reports above have been reported to the BHS?

On their website they have an accident form which is headed up by the text:

"The BHS is working to improve horse and rider safety on the roads.
Please help us by reporting any horse/rider related traffic accident and near misses on the form below. Please include your email address or other contact details....Thank you for making this report. A member of the BHS safety department may contact you for more information."

The form is at http://www.bhs.org.uk/Content/accident-report-form.asp

If people don't use it - why not?
 
God, what a load of t*ssers there are out there! I had some middle-aged man come too fast round a blind bend and hill which my sister and myself werre riding (only walking) along. He could not have passed us due to the type of road - he decided to beep his horn (helpful that!), our reponse was to stop, turn round and do our best signal of "What the?!", he eventually passed us (although still not really safe to do soo and thought he then had the right to shout out the window "you shouldn't be on the road if you can't control your horses" We were a bit bewildered as to what he meant seeing as we were just walking and had we been a bike or tractor he woulnd't have been able to pass either. thankfully it was one of those occasions we managed to respond with a few 'choice' words of our own!

The best bit about it was the look on his wife's face as he considered stopping again to have a slanging match! Still i felt 1 up to the horse rider as usually you think of a come back only AFTER the car's gone! (typically he was driving a BMW too but that's a whole other bug bear of mine!)
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Thank fully my horses are not scared of idiots like that but I am getting more wary about riding out on country lanes. Being in horse insurance we see far too many cases of road accidents.
 
I had a close one a few years ago when a group of lads passed us on a country lane hooting their horn and shouting out the window. They sped past us VERY close to the horses at about 70mph but my friend was able to get part of their reg no. We rang the police straight away and they were caught at the local pub very soon after and done for drunk driving. The police came so quickly as my friend told them she believed one of the lads was carrying a gun. A little tip there if you don't get much reaction from your local police service!!!
 
Fortunately the horse got off quite lightly - a couple of minor scrapes but noithing serious. The biggest problem I had afterwards was he was suddenly strangely afraid of traffic - I wonder why!!!
 
I had a near miss about 2 years ago hacking my eventer down a country lane one winter afternoon. It was daylight, I was wearing high vis and he was a light grey, plus we were at the end of a long straight stretch so no excuse for not seeing us. Unfortunately drivers use that bit of road as a rat run to connect 2 main roads and drive like it's a racetrack. On this occasion a transit van came past me from behind, must have been doing about 45 and literally didn't move over at all. I think it missed us by about a foot, if the horse had spooked it would have taken my leg off.
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Other than that I've had people rolling their windows down to tell me I shouldn't be on the road at all, and one chap helpfully beeped at me when my 4 year old spooked at a road sign and skittered across the road - thank you like that's going to help!!!
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I was hacking out my aunts horse when I was about ten, high vis etc, he was fine in traffic, straights stretch of road, motorbike came flying up behind us, went to overtake, I signalled for him to stop as there was a car coming, but he went anyway, saw car, and swerved into us, luckily duke had spooked at the noise and trotted on abit, so bike just clipped his bum, bloke came off and duke went down, but no major injuries.
Horse now terrified of stuff coming up behind him and prances on spot and kicks out
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Why don't these prats realise they can get new wings for their precious cars, we cannot get new legs for horses.
The whole lot are ignorant b-------s.
 
After reading all the replies I think I will stay in the menage! I can't believe what prats are out there, horrifying, one lad in the local pub said the other day "there are more horses on the roads than cars now its cra*p!" I said if we could not use the roads and the farmers let us use the fields then we bl**dy well would. We have more footpaths than bridleways, why can't they be bridleways for walkers and horse riders...? Sorry rant over
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I used to ride down a Byway that led from a private estate where my horse was kept, onto a public road. There was an oldish lady who lived in the last house beside this Byway, with a walled garden.

She started off standing behind the wall banging a dustpan and brush against the wall to frighten my horse.
Then progressed to rushing out of her patio doors and screaming at me across her vegetablepatch. I always told her that this path was not a footpath but a Byway, so I was legally allowed on it, but she wasn't having any of it.

In the end I rang the Council to check. They confirmed that I could ride my horse on the track and said if I got any more trouble from the old lady that they would gladly give her a call and explain, and that also I could report her to the Police for trying to cause an accident.

When I next saw the old bag I gave her the name of the Council officer I'd spoken to, and their number and also the bit about the Police and I didn't hear another whisper out of her. Fantastic!
 
we have a terrible time in our area and its so dangerous now to ride out we are about to lobby the police to do something about the stupid drivers who are going to kill someone soon
 
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