Was i in the wrong or the driver

Spring Feather said:
You're so right! When you came out riding with me last year, I don't know if you remember but my horse, my good horse, my horse I have owned for 9 years and ridden probably 2,000 hours and who never does anything wrong, would not walk next to that metal road barrier when we were coming down the hill. Typical that some vehicles were coming up and down the hill, lucky for my horse though! I would have tackled that nonsense immediately but as vehicles were passing it was not the time to be having a barny with him on the road. I did however take him back round there a number of times afterwards and the stinker was his usual perfect self and didn't care about the barrier. Sometimes you just have to suck it up.
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I remember Spring Feather! You tackled it brilliantly at the time I thought. But yes it does go to show! :)
 
He should have slowed down anyway if he had common courtesy and knew his Highway Code.

Having said that me and my friend often give perfect 'slow down' and 'stop' signals to oncoming cars on our narrow country lanes and they just carry on oblivious. Not usually out of spite but out of ignorance. They have no idea what the signals mean.
 
Trouble is, you can know as many correct hand signals as you like - we used to do a lot of them in the olden days - but if drivers don't understand them... However, I agree, there is common sense.
 
Very inconsiderate driver. He should have slowed down anyway, even without being asked to, simply out of common sense as a driver of a large and noisy vehicle. He should also have given you a chance to turn off. Not to mention stopping to see if you were OK!!!

I am very glad you were not hurt but it could have been a lot worse. Try the police with the video, they may be willing to do something, report it to the BHS accident website and maybe offer the BHS a copy of the video for educational purposes.
 
Please Please take some action on this. Show the video to the police. He was totally in the wrong and next time the rider and horse may not be so lucky. People like this need to be called to account. Hope you OK.
 
Haven't read other replies but the definition of a road traffic accident is "due to the presence of a motor vehicle on the road an accident has occurred". Therefore you could say that the tractor has failed to stop at the scene of a collision (that is of course if the driver saw you come off). You should show this video to the Police.
My OH who is a recently retired traffic sergeant said that the tractor driver should have slowed down without doubt, but whether it would be considered a road traffic collision (they're called "collisions" now not "accidents"!)
Have a look at this piece of law.

FAILURE TO STOP AFTER AN ACCIDENT
It is an offence for a person being the driver of a mechanically propelled vehicle and owing to the presence of that vehicle on the road or other such public place an accident having occurred whereby damage or injury was caused did fail to stop and give his name and address and identification marks of the vehicle.
Road Traffic Act 1988 s 170 (2)
 
absolute T*ss*r, you'd think someone driving that sort of vehicle would have a bit more respect for horses!

Just wanted to say well done for landing on your feet and keeping hold of the mare, I dread to think what would have happened otherwise!
 
Slightly Foxed said:
Trouble is, you can know as many correct hand signals as you like - we used to do a lot of them in the olden days - but if drivers don't understand them... However, I agree, there is common sense.
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But all drivers should know them, If a driver doesnt recognise hand signal as detailed in the highway code, they shouldnt be driving
 
Google top speed of a tractor and generally it's about 30-35mph, so I think we can assume the tractor wasn't driving at an excessive speed. Lots of interesting points on this thread, personally if in doubt I slow down on a horse, and as a driver also but as others have said the tractor driver is seeing two horses in single file cracking on, with random arm signals. He is well on his side of the road, and I think there were chevrons separating the two carriageways too, so a good clearance. Maybe he should have slowed down, maybe he thought all was fine and there was no need to. If I'd been driving my Transit van towards you at 30mph in the situation I can see on the video I may have eased off the gas a bit but I wouldn't have crawled by, and by your positioning of the horses (separately) and that you were trotting I would have considered you were perfectly happy with large vehicles on a main road. I hope you get out again tomorrow OP and have a very successful ride, in your situation I'd approach the tractor driver and ask if I could hang around the farm yard with my horse for a couple of hours.
 
I am actually a farmer and there is a medium sized 80hp tractor parked next to the stables. tractor will be started and Annie marched past it in the next few days.
My farrier saw the vid on facebook and has told me the tractor is from a local construction company, they are hauling rubble from a demolition site. he saw same tractor in the town earlier. the driver would be a proffessional driver not a local farmer!
 
Haven't read all the replies, but honestly I don't think your friend did you any favours with those awful hand signals. They weren't correct and wouldn't have been understood by any driver...

Driver could have slowed down but for all he knew the other rider was telling him it was ok...
 
Just to add another viewpoint - he may not have seen you fall off. I got driven off the road by a snow plow and despite my car being upside down in the ditch he didnt stop as he didnt see me. Not everyone looks frequently in their rear view mirror :(
 
It looks to me as if the horse shied as the tractor drew level with her. Even if he didn't realise she'd come off, he must have seen that?
agree re hand signals, and the distance between you and your friend.
glad you're ok
 
yes the tractor should have slowed BUT the front rider should have used known signals and the second rider (you?) should have put both hands on the reins in the circumstance.
 
Before your horse spooks and falls off, you let a big gap open between you and the lead horse/companion. Now, if your horse isn't that confident in traffic, and if you tend to fall off, why didn't you use the more confident lead horse to wedge in your horse by riding right beside it, or at least right behind it? Front horse looks out of control and trotting too fast on what looks like a busy, fast road, and its rider is fiddling with her reins while trying to give hand signals to traffic too far away to see her. Your horse showed signals which I could see on the camera were going to cause it to spook, and you didn't notice them because your attention was focussed on the tractor driver, expecting him to take notice to stop something happening to you.

If your horse is that poor in traffic, you could even have turned the opposite way, or turned his head into the bank at the side but it seems that you just kind of sat there and let it happen, then blamed the tractor driver. I do not think he did anything wrong, yes some drivers slow down but not all do. Its a tractor, it wasn't going that fast. It could have been a lorry or a bus. All these vehicles use roads too. A traffic horse should be able to cope with all of them, especially on the other side of the road.

If you are just training your horse to be traffic proof, then ride confidently, keep up with the horse in front or turn your horses head to the bank and wait til the vehicle is past.
 
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dreamcometrue said:
He should have slowed down anyway if he had common courtesy and knew his Highway Code.

Having said that me and my friend often give perfect 'slow down' and 'stop' signals to oncoming cars on our narrow country lanes and they just carry on oblivious. Not usually out of spite but out of ignorance. They have no idea what the signals mean.
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Both of these. I give clear and assertive hand and arm signals if necessary, but drivers haven't a clue what I am doing.
 
What a complete tw** ... with him going that fast, if your horse had spooked the other way, there could have actually been a nasty accident. I would definitely try and find out who was driving the tractor if possible. Glad you are ok!
 
OMG! That was scarey!

Regardless of hand signals, speed of horses whatever, he was going much to fast and without due care and I hope you are all ok after such a scarey moment.

I deck my horse and myself in police hi viz, she's a big bay and we look for all the world like the mounted and I don't care if it looks illegal or not and until I'm told to stop wearing it I will continue too wear it for our safety.Builders shut off machinery, people in gardens stop hedge cutting, mowing etc and all traffic slows or halts completely. As I said to someone today who remarked that they thought I had pulled up the pony in front for speeding that I'm never worried about my riding but rather the drivers driving.
 
There is no excuse for going that fast past a horse as, had your horse spooked the other way, you could have ended up underneath the tractor instead of on the grass. I actually think you should be thanking your lucky stars tonight as it could have been so much worse.

However, I do think you need to re-think your riding companions as your horse is clearly not safe to be on the road with large traffic and your friend did you no favours. I watched the video wondering when you were going to ask the driver to slow down - there was no 'slow down' hand signal given by the rider in front so I don't think you can state you asked him to slow down.

When riding a young horse on the road you should have them on the inside, flagged by a sensible horse who is not spooky or bothered about most things. If you can't have another horse for confidence then a person walking with you is far better than your current companion!! The most important thing is that the accompanying influence is calming and doesn't increase the anxiety of your horse.
 
ROG said:
bad of the noisy quick tractor - it should have eased off to reduce noise and speed

Also it seems it never checked back to see you were ok or if it did it ignored it

If you can get the licence plate from the video then I would report it to police as the newish offence of inconsiderate driving
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I agree. What kind of person sees an accident on the road and carries on driving away? Deserves a visit from the police.
 
I'm glad your all ok. I don't think your friend did you any favours bombing ahead like that. I think you should have gone two abreast with your horse tucked on the inside. And her hand signals didn't actually mean or do anything and I would be surprised if he even saw what she was doing!

I also think this driver needs a damn good hiding for his totally inappropriate driving, I know I would happily give him a slap for you! :mad:
 
Quote "I deck my horse and myself in police hi viz, she's a big bay and we look for all the world like the mounted and I don't care if it looks illegal or not and until I'm told to stop wearing it I will continue too wear it for our safety.Builders shut off machinery, people in gardens stop hedge cutting, mowing etc and all traffic slows or halts completely. As I said to someone today who remarked that they thought I had pulled up the pony in front for speeding that I'm never worried about my riding but rather the drivers driving.[/QUOTE]



If i was on Buddy, we would have had the full polite sheet. i have a polite head band and as we are 16.3 are often mistaken for police, which i love! you see it in their eyes "is that a copper" makes them think twice.
 
Very interesting I have just been to the UK Highway Code site. www.gov.uk and then to the page 'Highway Code: signals to other users, updated April 2013 and they have changed them a bit, mainly the stop signal. It is referred to as the rider is slowing down/stopping, not please would driver of approaching vehicle slow down.

All in all, learn from this situation, talk to your friend about how she can help you better - stay close with you regardless, separated horses are not safe. She never once looked back to see if you were with her still.

A while back when I took my mare on her very first trip on the road I asked my paddock mate to go with me. I gave her clear instructions that she was to stay beside me, between the road and my horse. She was utterly useless and ended up so far ahead I was on my own. My mare was most distressed and got quite jumpy. I ended up getting off and leading her home. Some people are totally ignorant when it comes to riding with others.
 
You would be on a hiding to nothing around here if you reported it to the police. Two horses from our yard were passed in the village high street by a police car doing a good 60 mph with siren and flashing light going . Didnt slow ,didnt switch off siren . What an ******** ,rather like his mate in another police car ,Kid on excitable pony ,it danced out into the road he didnt even slow down let alone stop. Both of which he could have done with ease.Fortunately no siren or lights but clearly in too much of a hurry to get back to the station and stuff his face with donuts.
 
Mike007 said:
You would be on a hiding to nothing around here if you reported it to the police. Two horses from our yard were passed in the village high street by a police car doing a good 60 mph with siren and flashing light going . Didnt slow ,didnt switch off siren . What an ******** ,rather like his mate in another police car ,Kid on excitable pony ,it danced out into the road he didnt even slow down let alone stop. Both of which he could have done with ease.Fortunately no siren or lights but clearly in too much of a hurry to get back to the station and stuff his face with donuts.
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Now that's one of those incidents where you wish the rider had a headcam on! That is just so wrong.
 
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