some drivers make me so mad

[harrihjc]

I was feeling brave and the roads were quiet so I took Flash out for a quiet hack on Sunday to give him a change. So we dug out our bright yellow 'Young Horse, please pass wide and slow' tabard and set off. He was such a good boy and even walked past a tractor with the huge trailer with no tantrums

his eyes were out on stalks but he didn't do his usual 'turn and run' so I was really pleased.

We did have one incident where he spooked tho, when a car came shooting past and he jumped sideways into a hedge away from it and I was hit in the face by a branch. What really got me tho, was that even tho he'd spooked, the car still knocked my leg it was so close! I was so shocked! I was so horrified at how inconsiderate they were, and that if Flash hadn't jumped away it probably would have been him the car hit! Even tho there was an audible bump when they hit my boot they never slowed down

People like that shouldn't be allowed on the roads, they're a danger!

Things like this have happened nearly every time I've ridden out which is why I do it so rarely. How do you respond to people like this?!

 

[Tinypony]

I don't know where you are, but I gave up and moved! I got fed up of the roads around Fawkham and moved the neds near to Borough Green. No arena, but miles and miles of off-road hacking. I just couldn't put up with the fact that however good my horses and I are, one ignorant speeding driver and it's all for nothing.

 

[_daisy_]

I got hit by a car when I was out hacking. I took a note of the reg and found out where they lived and challenged them. She first said she didnt know she had hit me then changed her mind to say she didnt want the car which was oncoming traffic to hit her so she would prefer to hit the horse!!! Warned her next time id go to the police, sue her big style and get her licensed removed! stupid old fogey.

 

[sfward]

Unbelievable!!! Why can't people just STOP AND WAIT?!!!

I nearly got hit by a transit van one day; passed me with about 6 inches to spare doing at least 40 miles an hour. It was coming from behind me so I didn't even see it until it the last minute - if we'd have moved even a couple of inches to the right it would have hit us. There wasn't even anything coming the other way...

That really scared me!

 

[harrihjc]

there wasn't anything coming the other way this time either, and i came from behind us. There was a layby about 20m on as well so they could easily have waited and had plenty of space!

 

[jackscrag]

Simular happened to me on sunday a stupid hells angel on a massive harley with a side car fitted, the bike was backfiring and way too noisey to be legal

, i was stopped at traffic lights with my youngster and he came flying round corner at high speed so much so the side car with a young boy in it was tilting

, the man had no helmet on ! ! just a im hard look at me scarf on his head

, my youngster spun round and headed bk to farm at fast trot luckily we'd just left the farm and no-one got hurt. People are just sooo stupid, i had my high vis's on but he was going way too fast to notice or care ! MEN !!!
jackiebx

 

[charlyan]

The lanes around us are pretty quiet single track roads and our tactic is to ride down the centre of the road forcing drivers to stop at the passing places and wait or if we're closest we stop and wait, if we didn't cars would try and squeeze past which is very dangerous as there's not much in the way of verges, just deep ditches. Obviously on blind summits or corners, we keep to the edge. One rider I know, forced a car to reverse- she stopped in the middle of the road and refused to budge as the car had expected to squeeze past- she can be quite a scary woman!
Luckily we don't need to venture out onto the main roads as I think you'd have to be close to suicidal given the speeds. The only time we've done it is on a riding club hack with 12 horses split into 3 groups and they had no choice but to slow down.

 

[Grumpy Herbert]

It's a sad fact of life that riding on British roads, with moronic British drivers is dicing with death. It's so unfair. In our local newspaper yesterday there was a letter from a woman whose horse spooked at a lorry that was being driven too fast - she was driving it in a carriage at the time. Horse reared and spun, and caught the back of the lorry. The lorry just drove on as if nothing had happened. Thankfully, though the horse was injured, it should recover. If the buggers won't slow down for a carriage, what hope have we riders got?

It is an offence under the Road Traffic Act not to stop following an accident where a horse has been hit (or indeed a rider), but it's so difficult to get the numberplate of the car when you're trying to calm your horse and recover from the shock. I'm glad you're both ok and hopefully you might see the car again and can get it's number.