Scary near miss!- How to get 'caution horse' roadsigns? *long*

BlairandAzria

BlairandAzria

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We had a pretty scary near miss last weekend, which involved a speeding white audi driving at 60 down a country road- perfectly legal i might add- turning a corner and screeching to a halt behind us hacking our horses back from the local show. There was 6 of us, 2 teenagers on cobs in the front, an adult leading a girl on a show pony, another adult leading a girl on a section B,follwed by me at the back on my 15.2 with a kid on her sec a on the inside.

All the humans, even those on foot had hi-viz tabards on, some pink some yellow, four of us had hi-viz hat bands. My horse had a hi-viz exercise sheet on, four leg bands, as did most of the others - plus various hi-viz martingales nose-bands, tail wraps etc... So pretty much as visible as we could possibly be.

I could hear the roar of the audi's engine before i saw it, and then suddenly I heard an almighty screech of the driver slamming on his breaks. It all felt in slow motion, as i turned around in horror, i yelled to the little girl on the section a to 'get over!!' the driver swerved to avoid us, as he did the back end on his car skidded round. I thought that was it- i was just waiting to hear a scream that never came. I saw the drivers face as he was breaking, and the absolute look of shear horror will stay with me for a while- it was at that moment that i was convinced we were going to be road skittles- in his face i knew that he thought he was going to hit us. I thank god that the car breaked just in time and in the end noone of us were any worse for wear.

It was over pretty quickly, no drama, other than a side step from my wimpy boy who was clearly wearig his brave pants that day, and a flattening back of their ears the horses were all fine, the kids were all fine, it was us oldies, conscious of what could have been, who looked at each other and thought....wow.


So...the road is a normal two lane country road, but it is right on the edge of the city. There are at least 4 livery yards on that road, with a show ground that is used by two riding clubs so there are shows every fornight in the summer, with other clinics evening shows etc throughout the weeks. There are lots of yards nearby, with one even having to lead horses down a nearby road for turn out. Lots pf people hack down that road as well as others nearby.

Now i believe that all parties last week were behaving within the law, the driver could possibly have been speeding, but probably not. We were hi-vized up like christmas trees, kids on the inside, with a lead and rear file guide signalling to traffic etc. The only thing i can think that could have prevented it, or may prevent an actual accident is a- reduce the speed limit on the road, or b- put up those triangle warning signs 'caution horses' along the road at each end etc.

SO now my question- who do I write to to request these road signs? Is it the local council? Can i report it to my local HSE as a 'near miss'? Has anyone done this before- am i likely to get a response or am i going to be writing a letter a week every year before anything is done?


Thanks, and sorry for the long post.

xx
 
Has anyone else noticed how when driving through country lanes surrounded by fields of horses on nice sunny days, drivers always seem shocked to see a horse and rider?

And how all the people having near misses are always high vis'ed up?
 
I have to cross a scarey bend to access a bridleway. The road has beware horse signs but the drivers take no notice. I have also experienced the noise of screeching brakes coming round the bend. Very frigtening. I now wonder if it is safer and try to cross when a car is in sight and get them to slow down so that they have already seen me.
 
For road signs, Highways will advise. Reducing speed? Forget it. Takes years and even when it's done, the drivers who DO speed will do so anyway. I live in an area that has many, many horses and drivers still whistle past, with good vision of what's in front.

Your best bet is as you say, to go the signs route, so that at least decent folk can drive accordingly. There has to be a certain number of horses in the area to qualify. I can't remember the number, but I'd have thought that with four livery yards, you'd be very much in with a chance!

Glad everyone was ok. I saw a similar near miss a few years ago as a speeding driver was overtaking some horses on a bend. I was the driver coming the other way and had thankfully slowed down, as he screeched to a halt partly on my side of the road, horses scattering everywhere (there were four of them). I don't think you need to breaking the speed limit, just driving inappropriately.
 
Approach your local council. We have one at the end of the drive, however some proletariat adhere and others do not care less. It is a 30 limit anyway, but people use it as a rat run and do not even take notice of the speed limit.

Glad you were unscathed , and I am sure that driver gave himself enough of a scare to drive with more caution
 
As far as I am aware, the 'caution horse' signs will only be put where horses have to cross the road, so make sure you have to before you ask!
 
Brandy said:
As far as I am aware, the 'caution horse' signs will only be put where horses have to cross the road, so make sure you have to before you ask!
Click to expand...

This doesn't apply where I live, and are erected on roads where there are no crossings - to do what it says on the sign: Beware Horse & Rider
 
Speak to your local council about both the signs and reducing the speed limit. There is no harm in trying to get it reduced to 50 or even better 40mph.
Keep a log if you can of all the incidents that happen and make sure you support your request to the council with details of how many riders use the road, ages of the riders, how often etc. I would even go to the other local livery yards and the riding clubs to see if you can try to get some sort of petition or group effort to request changes to the speed limit. The voice of many is a lot louder than just you on your own!
Also, you could try contacting local cycling clubs to see if they would like to join in the cause as I'm sure they will have an opinion on the local speed limits.
 
Drivers take no notice of the horse signs. They warn you horses may be about etc, just like the warning deer signs - but i'm always suprised to see a deer at the side of the road!

We had a major battle with our council regarding bridleway access. There was our field then directly over the road is the bridleway. There were 2 access points either end of a 'strip' of bridleway (which then went across fields etc) and this strip is split from the roadside by a big bushy mess. We cut a pathway through this bush and for over a year had been using it so we literally had to cross straight across the road. This was ideal for us as some drivers on this road are mentalists. The bridleway comes just after a national speed limit zone so generally people are going fast or accelerating. Coming the other way...they are still stupidly fast even though the speed limit is about to go to a 30mph. Anyway...trying to cut this short! Some jobsworth at the council decided he didn't like our path through his "conservation corridor" and blocked it up, along with one of the access points that was nearer to us as it was apparently "unauthorised". Despite our many complaints over concerns for our safety etc...they stuck to their guns. They didn't like our access point as we would block a horse and rider sign. What better way to point out the presence of horses and riders than having one by the sign?! The council had a consultation including police (but not including any of the actual users of the bridleway) and the police did say that cars travel fast - so basically they have acknowledged this is a problem but refuse to do anything about it!

In summary, good luck trying to get a sign...
 
We had some put up near our old livery yard by writing to the council. To be honest though they don't make much difference. We have them on the road where we are now that has 3 livery yards not to mention all the cyclists who use the route but those who think they are Jeremy Clarkson or in one of those car adverts still think it is their perogative to speed down the road regardless of who else is on it, and with 2 blind bends they can't always see who is on it.

I really don't know what the answer is. Various conversations have been had with the council and the police, the council refuse to lower the speed limit (it's 40mph) and the policewoman who came to the local meeting was completely unhelpful, said we had to accept that people will drive as they see fit even if that means driving at 50mph round a blind bend, they won't send anyone up with cameras, and if we are riding two abreast then we can be done for obstruction!! At this point I was gobsmacked and sat back down before I got arrested. This is in a rural village, with a small housing estate on one side of the road (fortunately as their drives often come in useful as refuges). The BHS promised to send some leaflets and posters so we could start a local awareness initiative but they never turned up...So now we 'obstruct' the road as much as we have to in order to keep cars slow and prevent them overtaking us on blind bends. THere have been several near misses and a couple of actual crashes, fortunately they have so far only involved bent metal.
 
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We have done this our yard is in a small road 2 lane wide road. Our speed limit went from 30 were village ended then continues into our road to national speed limit on our, our road has 2 yards on it .

The other road that feeds on the junction of us also has national speed limit it also has 2 yards on and is very narrow .

Our local riding association wrote to Highway agency quite a few times.
I don't know all the steps as *** did all that.



Though much better if you have an organization do it as it is more organized and you have their backing which does count for something .

The three roads in question including ours has dropped speed from national down to 40 and we have two triangular horse signs one in our road on in the continuous where changes name.
You might need to try a few times.

I just spoke to ours, they recommend you phone up your local highway agency tell them the problem and go from there.

Hope this helps
 
Brandy said:
As far as I am aware, the 'caution horse' signs will only be put where horses have to cross the road, so make sure you have to before you ask!
Click to expand...


Sorry that is not so our road goes on about 3 miles changes name 5 times our part had two triangular horse signs erected neither of which is where horses cross the road.
 
Just read your post, how scary for you. In my case it was bad enough seeing the car coming towards us at speed, but its even worse when you can hear a car behind you coming at speed.
 
Legally, although he wasn't technically speeding, he was driving dangerously. Just because it's a national speed limit doesn't mean you have a right to drive at 60, you still have to assess the road, driving conditions etc. You should be able to stop in the distance you can see, and it doesn't sound like he could, hence the squeal of brakes and the skidding. From your description of his face, he may have learnt his lesson, but I suspect not :(
 
Brandy said:
As far as I am aware, the 'caution horse' signs will only be put where horses have to cross the road, so make sure you have to before you ask!
Click to expand...

This was certainly the case with the Highways Dept of my own council. I did manage to get these signs put up twenty years ago because horses did have to cross the road. 20 years ago drivers were much more courteous and the road was less busy. The signs are still there but I would never dream of taking any of my horses on that stretch of road now. It would be suicide and drivers pay no attention to the signs whatsoever. Good luck!
 
Just horrible and I have exactly the same where I am. We are as you are, lit up like a Christmas trees in fluorescents and it just doesn't seem to help. Council could be the answer but I am on a mission with the council at the moment due to the horses slipping on newly resurfaced tarmac and they will weedle out every which way they can.
The only thing that I have bought recently that has made a difference is the "POLITE NOTICE" tabard as shown below:-

http://equinemum.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-difference-tabard-can-make.html

The traffic has been coming to a virtual standstill when wearing it. I do feel a bit of a jumped up upstart wearing it but hey if it slows the traffic down, who cares!
 
Our council have been excellent and every time I've requested signs they have put them up, and not just on roads we cross but roads we ride up and leading to and from livery yards. Can't say it makes much difference to the tourist drivers though, people seem to forget how to drive when they are on holiday for some reason.
 
Warning signs with 'SLOW' road markings may be a possibility with so many yards on the road & higher horse usage than a driver should normally expect from a country lane. Reducing speed limit, well them pigs may fly.

The speed limit is not an indicator of what speed is safe on that road, it's the level below which you wont be prosecuted for speeding. That a driver chose to go a speed that was reckless is not a reason to decrease the limit, he's just a stupid driver. I'm not defending him, but trying to show how it will be viewed.

Write asking for the warning signs & road markings on approach to the livery yards. State how many there are, & approximately how many horses are using (& crossing) the road. Say about the experience you had, calmly & factually. Ask for a meeting on site where the worst problem is to show them the problem & talk about possible improvements.

Do not say the immortal phrase that the road is 'an accident waiting to happen', as in reality all roads are. Blackspots are dteremined by assessing the number & seriousness of accidents which have actually happened, usually over the preceeding 5 years. I know it isn't right that it has to happen before you get something done, but with very low budgets works on roads (such as putting up signs - it all costs money) have to be prioritised with the proven most serious blackspots being improved first working down to a point where the budget is gone. Harsh, not defending it, but that's the way it is with budget cuts.

I really hope you can get something done to improve your safety. I ride on roads & you have my total sympathy. Be calm, factual, reasonable, don't rant, explain what happened clearly. As the person receives your calm letter it will be so much easier for them to work with you. Standard roads write to the local council, primary roads (their signs have a green backing or if motorway blue backing) write to the Highways Agency.
 
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I've recently bought a "POLITE NOTICE" tabard - will see how well it works on Sunday!! :)
Someone posted on here an idea about having signs which say "Horses passed here...X minutes ago" but it would cost the council far too much money - brilliant idea though.
I think I might make my own sign for a blind bend near us (on a 30mph housing estate with kids playing etc and people still come round there at 40+mph!) saying "If there are horses round this corner....could you stop?"
K x
 
Make sure your sign does not resemble a legal road sign. If it does & there is an incident, it could mean the perpetrator evades prosecution. Make sure your sign in some way is obviously different from a legal one (such as a different colour). Otherwise your good intention could backfire.
 
UPDATE : The road now has *caution horse* signs on it and a section of it is being reviewed for a speed reduction!

whoohoo am so pleased the council took it seriously, I did call three times to follow up with the reference number and speak to them about 'progress' etc... but they said they have had a number of complaints about it- so totally not my doing, but i guess the key to these things is making the call- so that the numbers do add up and they take notice!

:):):):):)
 
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The council has taken notice, and so should we, its a numbers game, a concerted effort, to be honest I have the POLITE stuff, and neighbour's think we are training police horses
Its £50 well spent for peace of mind, that I have done all can.
 
hope it makes a difference for you, there's the triangle signs on the road the farm track joins as there used to be a riding school down the road but drivers don't take any notice, i had a close encounter with a Wolsely 7.5t lorry last year and because part of the road is a long straight run cars fly up it like it's a race track:rolleyes:
 
Glad your signs are going up. We had an accident some months ago involving 4 horses from the yard, one bloke who came off has damaged his arm so badly he's been told not to ride again.

YM wrote to the council immediately - we're in a 40 zone - and although they're not doing anything about the speed they are installing signage for us and it only took a couple of months.
 
Your local council. When I kept mine in Uxbridge, I pestered and pestered until I could pester no more to put the signs up. They did a few months later and too be honest the signs made no difference what so ever. People reguarly used that road as a cut through and never bothered to look at the signs but at least if something did happen they could never say that they were not aware horses used that road.
 
Spotsrock said:
Has anyone else noticed how when driving through country lanes surrounded by fields of horses on nice sunny days, drivers always seem shocked to see a horse and rider?

And how all the people having near misses are always high vis'ed up?
Click to expand...

Yup.... I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of drivers who then take their dogs on the bridle path and are amazed to see horses on there as well!!
 
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