Scary near miss of the worst kind this morning - may spark a debate!

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OP was going 25mph and was criticised for going too fast. Presumably she should have been going 10mph on a normal road connecting two towns.

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We are talking about blind bends!!!!! Not a straight stretch of country road! Of course people shouldn't drive 10 mph if the conditions are safe to do 60mph, but, in my opinion, drivers should slow RIGHT down around tight blind bends. I think I am probably explaining myself badly LOL
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I haven't been inconsistent I don't think, all I have said is people should drive according to the road conditions and if visibility is so bad round a corner/in the fog/low sun/whatever then you should be driving slow enough to stop in time if a hazard appears in front of you. What that 'safe' speed is depends on the road and the conditions.

In the case of the OP, she obviously wasn't going way too fast as she was able to avoid them, but by her own admission it was a near miss that left her quite shaken- if she had been driving a little bit slower around that corner (note 'around that corner', not 'at all times on that road') she would have given herself a few extra seconds to think, and it wouldn't have been a near miss.

We shall have to agree to disagree I think Booboos!
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[ QUOTE ]
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OP was going 25mph and was criticised for going too fast. Presumably she should have been going 10mph on a normal road connecting two towns.

[/ QUOTE ]

We are talking about blind bends!!!!! Not a straight stretch of country road! Of course people shouldn't drive 10 mph if the conditions are safe to do 60mph, but, in my opinion, drivers should slow RIGHT down around tight blind bends. I think I am probably explaining myself badly LOL
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I haven't been inconsistent I don't think, all I have said is people should drive according to the road conditions and if visibility is so bad round a corner/in the fog/low sun/whatever then you should be driving slow enough to stop in time if a hazard appears in front of you. What that 'safe' speed is depends on the road and the conditions.

In the case of the OP, she obviously wasn't going way too fast as she was able to avoid them, but by her own admission it was a near miss that left her quite shaken- if she had been driving a little bit slower around that corner (note 'around that corner', not 'at all times on that road') she would have given herself a few extra seconds to think, and it wouldn't have been a near miss.

We shall have to agree to disagree I think Booboos!
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I think we might!!!
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I found all this very interesting but maybe got too involved as I have worked on risk assessment and it gets me all fluffed up!
 
You'll just have to be on extra guard for silver jeeps creeping round tight blind bends if you are ever driving in the County Durham area
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, and be sure to give me a wave as you overtake
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Definitely an interesting discussion
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QR:
My driving instructor always told me to expect the unexpected. I suppose, from my point of view, I am thinking of an occasion where a child may have been in the road for whatever reason, or someone riding a bike along the road. It's always better to expect things to be beyond the blind bend, as it mightn't only be horses, but other obstructions.

I'm glad lots of people have miles of bridletracks and never-used county lanes that are built like roman roads, but sadly we can't all be that fortunate and some of us have to use roads with some bends in them, roads with traffic on them and roads that are two way traffic.

25mph is really incredibly slow - I find it really difficult to stick to in my car if needed to (but I do). I don't feel that at 25mph, I'd be taken by huge surprise at a hazard in the road, or have to swerve, as I'd have due time to react before needing to swerve.
 
It doesn't matter who is to blame if you or your horse are dead.

Everyone should take responsibility for their own safety - you can't expect the a*seholes who drive on British roads to give one hoot if they kill you or themselves therefore you need to make sure you give yourself a fighting chance to stay alive. Riding on a 60mph A or B road is a massive risk and you need to be prepared for the worst even if you really can't avoid it.

P.S.Why do some people wear high viz like it is a magic shield and makes them immune to accidents or injury?
 
Sorry but I don't think 25mph is incredilby slow. We are required to drive at 30mph in towns and at 20mph in some places or even less such as going through parks. As a driver it is your responsibility to expect the unexpected, particularly on a bendy country road! I know I drive thinking "what if there was a horse rider or cyclist round that bend, would I be able to safely avoid hitting them?". I don't really see what the problem is. The OP saw them, so reflectives are not the issue. People are allowed to ride on roads, they did nothing wrong!

And yes, some of us are unfortunate enough to live in areas which were previously rural bliss and have now been overrun by modern housing estates and so have no quiet country roads left to ride on.
 
I fail to understand why people risk the lives of their horses by not wearing High-Viz. Independent studies have shown that other road users will see people with Hi-Viz on at least 3 seconds earlier.

Riding double on a blind bend or just beyond it is also crazy.

However motorists do need to recognise that they need to drive according to the road conditions and reduce their speed before going round a blind bend. In some cases the blind bend may be so dangerous that a speed of 10 m.p.h is required.

I two vehicles travelling at 30 m.p.h in opposite directions hit each other the impact will be at 60 m.p.h. This is not good news for the occupants of the cars.
 
Headless said-

"And yes, some of us are unfortunate enough to live in areas which were previously rural bliss and have now been overrun by modern housing estates and so have no quiet country roads left to ride on."

So what are we supposed to do, just crawl away and die, if they insist on building massive estates full of aresholes they should consider the needs of the existing local area in the planning, and I dont mean "pretending" to cater for, such as my saturday morning video shows.
 
No time to read all posts, so QR:

I used to ride on such a road (hacking wasn't brilliant) and people did speed on it, as you say. What I did was cross the road well before the bend and ride on the wrong side of the road, French-like, lol! I would cross back again when well past the bend. It meant that I was no longer concealed. I did get a few 'WTF?' looks from drivers, but if anything, the ones coming towards me slowed down MORE and I did get one wind their window down to say, 'Thank God, a rider with sense!'. Another thing i used to do (still should, actually!), is wrap fluorescent and reflective tape on the end of my whip. If I was on a bend and realised that it was blinder than I thought, I would hold the whip straight out if I heard a car and wave it, so the tape caught their eye.

Thankfully I don't have to ride on such roads, now, but if I did, that would be my strategy every time. I did once make an error of judgement by following my map when I first moved into this area, riding on the A29 for quite a section. My pony is well and truly excellent on the roads, but it's not an experience I'd like to repeat, so maybe they took a wrong turn? No excuse for not wearing Hi-Viz, though.
 
People keep saying that it's the responsibility of drivers to take into account all eventualities, it works both ways & riders also need to do this.
It's not always the drivers fault either.
I always pass riders wide & slow but if a horse does a violent shy into my car, that's not my fault. It wouldn't be the rider's fault either it would be an accident.
 
Lets be quite honest with each other the roads will continue becoming increasingly used by drivers of vehicles travelling at ever increasing speeds and that have little or no understanding of horses. This is not a problem that will go away and it is important that all of us that wish to be able to hack our horses out safely aim for an integrated off road netwofk of rights of ways.
One of the things I routinely do whenever I discoverthat there is a planning application being applied for in my area is that I now ask the developers and planners for a new public right of way of no less than byway status so that horse riders and carriage drivers have an alternative route. I ask for the new right of way to be put on the ground and operational prior to any development of the site so that the horse and carriage riders do not have to compete with construction vehicles, machinery and the new residents of the new houses. So if you are having problems in your area then try to do something about it. The BHS run regular bridleway courses which will assist you in the understanding of access matters and how to deal with planning applications to the advantage of local riders and carriage drivers. If nothing else join the BHS.
 
Whilst I agree that some riders seem to have total disregard for their or their horses safety doesn't the highway code state that a driver should drive at a speed which would allow them to stop WITHIN their forward field of view (or words to that effect)?
 
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