What are drivers like in your area?

HollyWoozle

HollyWoozle

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www.farandride.com
Following on from the news stories about road accidents involving horses and yeeharider's experiences lately, I was just wondering what the drivers are like in your area? I'm sure we all encounter the really nice kind who slow down and give us a wide berth as well as the not so friendly kind, but perhaps more "horsie" areas are better than others?

I hacked Belle up the village on Saturday (first time probably since early December) and I have no choice but to go on the road for at least some way. It's a long village and reasonably busy at times but nothing mad (though a horsie friend walked with me for the first time and she said "you ride up this road?!" in shock). Plenty of other riders do the same as there isn't an alternative way to get to the country lanes and so on.

Anyway, I had forgotten how uncaring some drivers can be! They were driving between Belle and big lorries, maybe just 2ft from her legs, zooming past or just not even acknowledging us. Do you have the same problem? For the record, both Belle and I were wearing high-vis gear and both myself and my friend walking with us waved thank you to drivers slowing down. I'm lucky that Belle is very brave with the traffic but I dread to think what would happen if she did spook one day at the wrong moment...
 
I live in a village on the way to Gatwick airport so we get plenty of "must get to the airport" drivers. About 50% of people slow down a little. The rest drive past as if I was on a bike.

I have to say that the horse riders in my area don't do themselves any favours, I am in the minority for wearing hi-viz.
 
I find 90% of drivers very good, however, mothers on the school run are lethal. I have given up riding out between 8.30-9 because i have had so many near misses.

Some people do not even change down a gear when passing they just fly past at 40-50, its quite scary. I can understand why people do not like to go on the roads.
 
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I have given up riding out between 8.30-9 because i have had so many near misses.

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Sensible. There are certain times of the day that I don't ride out weekdays, simply because there's too many cars in too much of a rush to get places.
 
I find some are really considerate
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but most fly past as if you aren't even there
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My horse is also very brave with traffic almost too brave
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But she also has a habit of spooking at invisible things
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thankfully never spooked whilst someone is trying to take my stirrup with them
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I have several main roads to negotiate round here as well
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would love government to have more bridleways and even allow us to ride along canal
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Did ride along canal until one person complained !! Typical
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and he's probably one of the ones who drive past like i'm invisible
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I dont go on the main roads any more. Ive moved yards right near two country parks. I have some quiet lanes and even come across the odd Dic* Head or two down them. However most pass slowly and I always always acknowledge this with a thank you.
 
The worst one I ever had was man taking his daughter to a riding lesson who nearly killed us (!!!!!!!). When he passed us again after dropping her off, he was given a verbal lecture on parenting examples! And the local travellers would drive their transits up revving and hooting until they were touching our chaps back legs, thankfully he was 'I own the road type' and bombproof, he even dealt with meeting an army tank!

Now live in N Scotland where the scary things are huge foresty lorries, tractors with waving front loaders and herds of cattle cantering towards you down tracks!
 
its 50/50 here some are considerate and others are complete ****. We have a country park close but the ridding is crap only 2 horse paths and they are shared routes take about 10mins in walk to go round. Other than that we are right next to a town and we do ride through there but sometimes it seems more hassle than its worth with all the buses etc
 
WE are in a fairly horsie area, and like you we have to ride up through a long village to get onto the local bridleways.

90% of the passing traffic is fine, a lot of the local farmers will stop and even turn tractor engines off until we are past, busses are fine, even the ambulances turn their sirens off as they pass.

But the 10% can be dreadful, crawling close behind revving their engines, or worse driving straight at us and slowing at the last minute (when they see us). 99% of these are elderly people...and I make no further comment.

It has to be said that things have improved significantly since a horse was killed at the far end of the village and 150 of us, on horseback and on foot, held an awareness walk right through the village on a Saturday lunchtime.

Unfortunately, with the spring and summer will come the increase in traffic, this is when we will get shouted at and see many different forms of sign language, despite the fact we always wave traffic past and thank drivers.
 
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I find 90% of drivers very good, however, mothers on the school run are lethal.

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they are even if you are in a car!!! one of them pulled out a junction this morning without looking bumped my car (no damage) and said we she was going to be late for school and had children on board!!!!! need i say anymore?????
 
Barstewards!!!
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A few are ok but, living in London, there are few people sympathetic to horses. Many are just ignorant.

Most people come closer than they would to a car or bicycle and they very rarely slow down! Those that do pass wide and slow tend to start beeping their horn to say hi.......
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I have explained to them that this is not the best idea but I guess people just don't know any better.

Luckily my two are super-dooper on the roads but I try to avoid roadwork as much as possible.
 
I would say 50% are very good and very patient, 40% are ok if the horse doesn't spook, ie they overtake just a little bit too fast for my liking but if the horse is sensible it's OK, and 10% are downright dangerous, driving too close and too fast. I always wish i had stones in my pockets to throw at those ones.

I've had a few nasty instances. Several have gone past so close i could kick the side of their car with my boot, several have not had the patience to wait until it was safe to overtake me and nearly caused accidents, I had a woman on a school run driving behind me about 2 inches away from my horses hocks, but the worse one for me was this:

About 2 years ago my horse was almost hit from the rear. I was riding round the twisty lanes, wearing full high viz. I could hear a car coming fast from behind the bend, but i was on a narrow road with no verge. It was a big, new, mercedes saloon car, and came round the bend at about 70 (maybe even faster?). It hit its breaks hard as soon as it saw me - my horse bolted forward, taking off when the breaks started screeching. Luckily in that instance my horse bolting probably saved our lives. Thank god nothing was coming towards us. That was the last time i ever road round those narrow, bendy lanes. scary stuff. The driver of the mercedes didn't stop to see if I was alright, just overtook as I was pulling my horse up and carried on. I was in a complete state after that, and it still sends shivers down my spine thinking about it.
 
I've recently moved yards (previous one closed so no choice) from one where the drivers were pretty good. I'd get the odd
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who barely registered our presence, but most were very good and would either stop or slow right down, and the roads were pretty wide so most vehicles could get past. However new yard is on a very busy "country" lane linking an A road to the town and has lorries, van and cars haring down it. I am getting out of that yard in the next couple of weeks, the road being one of the main reasons.
 
Most of them don't slow down, even when the village is a 30.

Some tractor drivers also don't slow down, some think its funny to scare your horse.

Wagons come thundering around sharp blind bends, basically you might as well ride down the hard shoulder of the bloody M62, it would be safer
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Having said that there is about 5 livery yards in our village, so guess (although no excuse) but I can imaging non horsey folk get a bit sick of horse riders all over the shop.

I do always thank drivers even if they havent quite slowed down as much as they should of.
 
Its not cars that are the biggest problem here its the "Silent Cheetahs" (Bicycles
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)You can't here them coming and they swish passed without so much as a "hi"
The Equine can see this narrow,speeding object in its vision way back but doesn't hear it so it looks for all the world to them like a preditor on their tail!
 
Generally good. Its a rural area, and people have their heads screwed on right. Apart from one absolute dick, but he might have moved as his house was up for sale and I haven't seen him in a while.
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However, we get loads
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of tourists, if not walkers (fine) then townie, 3 kids (baby, toddler and a 10 year old usually;) ) an off its head border collie, Citroen Picasa (or other people carrier), types. They drive me MAD. Its either a mad rush past us, doing 60 on narrow, stone walled country lanes, or slow right down and squeeze past with the kids/dogs hanging out the window hollering.

I loathe them.
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Its even worse when you have to then serve them in the pub after they tried to run you over earlier that morning.

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Generally good. Its a rural area, and people have their heads screwed on right. Apart from one absolute dick, but he might have moved as his house was up for sale and I haven't seen him in a while.
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However, we get loads
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of tourists, if not walkers (fine) then townie, 3 kids (baby, toddler and a 10 year old usually;) ) an off its head border collie, Citroen Picasa (or other people carrier), types. They drive me MAD. Its either a mad rush past us, doing 60 on narrow, stone walled country lanes, or slow right down and squeeze past with the kids/dogs hanging out the window hollering.

I loathe them.
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Its even worse when you have to then serve them in the pub after they tried to run you over earlier that morning.

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DITTO this! haha such a gd description Tink! lol
 
I guess wherever you are, we all encounter some good and some bad then! I did have one man approach in a van and he actually turned the engine off and rolled by! Haha!

I say thank you to most people, even those who aren't quite as caring as I would've hoped, because I hope it will make them think again next time. However, if people are particularly inconsiderate then I don't do anything (except maybe swear lots under my breath). I do think that a few people are just ignorant but you would think it'd be common sense not to drive too close (then again, maybe I wouldn't think that if I didn't ride horses).
 
We ride mostly on our estate where the horses are kept. we frequently meet forestry lorries, mostly who are courteous and patient. We have a lot of foreign (east european) workers who are brilliant and slow down as they are often towing clattery trailers. On the roads, they are mostly pretty good although there are always the prats who refuse to slow down. The bike riders are pretty unsociable normally, one was coming up behind us tinging his bell and we couldn't work out what the noise was til he was on our tails
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. Luckily the neddies didn't bother.
 
Brilliant. Very rural area, mostly it takes ages to get anywhere because everyone stops to talk.

Mind, we don't do corners where I live so visibility is excellent, and anyway, anything on legs or 2 wheels has absolute priority - no-one is going to risk having the pants sued off them.

Very few people ride on the roads, no need, nowhere is fenced, you simply ride on the edge, there is no excuse for getting in the way of a vehicle.
 
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The bike riders are pretty unsociable normally, one was coming up behind us tinging his bell and we couldn't work out what the noise was til he was on our tails
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Better that than just appear on your tail I suppose
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in my opinion I'd actually call that being considerate.

Cyclists are pretty vulnerable and it is a kind of Catch 22, do you whistle, call out or use the bell to warn of your approach, or just try to sidle past? I always used to make some kind of noise.

Cyclists in a group can be a bit arsey I'll certainly give you that. From experience, they do seem to get braver en-masse and think that is OK for them to take up the entire road but heaven forbid if horses are going two abreast! Sunday mornings where I lived before was awful in the summer on some loops.
 
Some are good - in fact too hesitant and they end up spooking the horse. Othere are just abysmal and you wonder if they ahave anby awareness at all.

I always wear high viz, and I occupy a position in the middle of the lane - if you ride in the gutter then you will get thundered past. You have to do a certain amount of "taking control" of the trafic yourself.

It's even worse if you are in a cart/trap and pony - then you are treated like a vehicle and they give no consideration.

Mostly, it's just plain lack of awareness. It absolutely is not acceptable for them to fly past when you have children on ponies.

Occasionally you will get stupid people blaring their horn or skimming past you and shouting abuse - it's like they have a perception that beucase you have a horse you are a "rich git" and need abuse hurled at you. It's becuase I have horses that I'm NOT rich!!!

Tractor drivers are the worst - you would think they would know better, but no.

At least in England you have a half decent system of bridleways - here in NE Scotland there is nothing at all.
 
Most the riding I have done has been in London (including Central London), Mid Wales, The Quantocks and North Hertfordshire. As far as riding on the roads is concerned Central London is the safest as the motorists have good visibility unlike the single track high banked narrow country lanes.

Many drivers do not know what to do when they meet or have to pass a horse so where possible I take command of the situation if I have any concerns.
I always wear a long sleeved Hi-Viz jacket so that other road users can clearly see my hand signals. I also wear a Hi-Viz hat band and my horse has a Hi-Viz nose band and reign covers.
I frequenstly look behind me to check what is approaching and if a vehicle is approaching from infront or from behind I point at them for 3 seconds and then hold the palm of my hand up to them to get them to slow down and stop. (Obviously this will not work around sharp bends wheer there is no visibility).
As regards cyclist I teach them to say 'Passing' and to slow down when approaching horses so that the horses hear them coming from behind.
As regards lack of bridleways if you need more in your area then I am afraid you will have to do something about it yourself and join your local BHS County group and work with them to create more bridleways in your area. It can be done because I know this as I have helped cerate several new bridleways/restricted byways including an underpass under the M25 and an equine friendly bridge over the A1(M).
In Scotland the situation is different but you have the right to roam which gives riders access to large amounts of the Scottish countryside.
As regards riding on the roads you will learn a lot of technique if you take the BHS Road Safety Course. This can be arranged with your local County BHS Road Safety Officer.
Peter Natt - BHS Volunteer Access Officer North Hertfordshire
 
Most drivers are ok.
I have found that first thing in the morning the school run mums can be ignorant. They are so busy on their cell phones they fail to register horses, a danger to riders and the children in the car.
Also had a problem with requesting, politely, drivers to slow down when accompanying my friend on her youngsters. We are unfailingly polite and try to explain what we are doing. I have had some serious abuse, nearly always from female drivers. ( i am female).
We always wear hi viz, we always smile and say thank you, even to rude drivers.
I'm afraid it is just pure ignorance on the part of road users and education must be the answer. We don't have a problem with farmers or lorry drivers or motor bikers as I think they are generally aware of the dangers.
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The bike riders are pretty unsociable normally, one was coming up behind us tinging his bell and we couldn't work out what the noise was til he was on our tails
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Better that than just appear on your tail I suppose
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in my opinion I'd actually call that being considerate.

Cyclists are pretty vulnerable and it is a kind of Catch 22, do you whistle, call out or use the bell to warn of your approach, or just try to sidle past? I always used to make some kind of noise.

Cyclists in a group can be a bit arsey I'll certainly give you that. From experience, they do seem to get braver en-masse and think that is OK for them to take up the entire road but heaven forbid if horses are going two abreast! Sunday mornings where I lived before was awful in the summer on some loops.

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Oh absolutely, i wasn't complaining about him, i just thought it was funny that he was tinging away and we were wondering what the noise was.
When i say they are unsociable, i dosn't mean that they cause us a problem, i just mean that when we meet dog walkers or people on foot or in their gardens, we always say good morning, i jsut meant that the cyclists don't normally speak to us.

There's not much on the road that phases my girlie.
 
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