What would you add to this letter to a dangerous driver….

alainax said:
You might hate this.. but id go with something a bit more like this.

  • Pointing out when where and what happened
  • What the problem was
  • Your suggestions on resolution.

In a friendly and polite way :)

Dear Mr xxxxxx

I am writing to you today to bring to your attention an incident in which a friend and I on horseback had a near miss with one of your vehicles on the 15/12/2013 at 12.45 en route to xxxx at approximately xxxxx lane

The incident in question resulted in both riders and horses, as well as other road users being placed in danger due to the incorrect over take manoeuvre being performed. I am sure you are more than well aware of the correct manoeuvre, and it was very fortunate that this didn’t result in an accident.
I would be greatly obliged if you could advise the pupil or supervisor who was driving at the time that their actions could have had serious consequences, and that horse riders are vulnerable road users, if you have not already done so.

I understand that in the nature of your business not all of your pupils will have come across horse road users before, and as a result I could forward you some website links of horse road safety campaigns if that would be helpful, although I am sure you will have access to these already.

In future we would greatly appreciate if you could please ensure that even the newest of pupils understand the unpredictable and vulnerability of horse road users, in the hope that we can all be safer out there.

Kind Regards,
xxxxxx


If you are really generous you could even point out that said pupil may come and meet your horse, to understand that both you and it are real living beings.


The other option is of course, that you don't write to him at all, and send a complaint to his governing body, and let them deal with it. Maybe the best way if you are particularly angry.
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^5 like
 
bonny said:
See, I don't think people need anyone explaining that their actions could be dangerous, they either know and amend their ways or carry on regardless until something bad actually happens. That's just human nature, same as explaining why we have speed limits etc doesn't stop people breaking the law daily. In the OP's post, nothing actually went wrong and explaining to a driver that it might have done does nothing but put his back up. Roads can be dangerous, that's the reality, tomorrow it might be someone else going too fast, their are millions of drivers out there....
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Totally disagree in my experience over 45 years riding teaching many many people don't realise even the simplest things horses react to, and are most surprised when you explain.

What so wait till a horse is killed or rider before approaching a reputable driving school which should be training all new drivers how to approach and pass a horse.?

3 months ago I was riding home had my hand out and wearing Hi Viz when a learner driver came up behind me 1 horses length behind my horses legs and closing got to half a length and enough was enough BACK OFF.. I said she stopped dead and I crossed safety with a glare as I turned round.

OP the police told me when riding out

wear hi viz
ride sensibly
if an incident occurs
make note of time
place and details of car make etc lisence plate then call the make a report



Once done a black mark goes against the cars registration and never goes away, 3 marks and they take action.
 
Leviathan said:
Totally disagree in my experience over 45 years riding teaching many many people don't realise even the simplest things horses react to, and are most surprised when you explain.

What so wait till a horse is killed or rider before approaching a reputable driving school which should be training all new drivers how to approach and pass a horse.?

3 months ago I was riding home had my hand out and wearing Hi Viz when a learner driver came up behind me 1 horses length behind my horses legs and closing got to half a length and enough was enough BACK OFF.. I said she stopped dead and I crossed safety with a glare as I turned round.

OP the police told me when riding out

wear hi viz
ride sensibly
if an incident occurs
make note of time
place and details of car make etc lisence plate then call the make a report



Once done a black mark goes against the cars registration and never goes away, 3 marks and they take action.
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Said much better than I did. Personal letters can easily be ignored or used as fodder to be even more annoyed at horses on roads. Report to police actually does something tangible.
 
I would C.C. Your letter to ADI Section, DSA, The Axis Building, 112 Upper Parliament Street, Nottingham NG16LP. Including as much information about the instructor as possible - pref full name, ADI number, business address - you can check on their website that they are fully registered too - if they are they are subject to on going check tests to ensure their teaching is up to scratch - if they are not registered they are teaching illegally and can be prosecuted. X
 
JingleSmells said:
Said much better than I did. Personal letters can easily be ignored or used as fodder to be even more annoyed at horses on roads. Report to police actually does something tangible.
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What are reporting to the police ? A driver, unknown, drove past my horse too fast, nothing happened but it might have done ......if we all did that everytime we saw a driver doing something stupid then the police would spent all day, everyday dealing with cases where no harm came to anyone.
 
You can dress it up how ever you want but careless driving is careless driving. You get points on your lisence for it,


A driving instructor should be watching 2 steps ahead of any situation or obstacle or potential hazard when out on a training lesson,and when the learner driver has past the point of a "learners" time to react he should intervene and make a judgement on braking and tell learner to go slower and move wider.




THINK! Advice


Advice for motorists

Slow down and be ready to stop if necessary
Look out for riders' signals to slow down or stop
Watch out for sudden movements, horses can be easily frightened and unpredictable
Don't sound your horn or rev your engine
Pass wide and slow when overtaking; giving the horse plenty of room. Don’t accelerate rapidly once you have passed them.
On roundabouts, horse riders will keep to the left within the roundabout until reaching their exit, when they will signal left. They will normally signal right only when approaching exits they don't intend to use

Advice for horse riders

Always display fluorescent/reflective clothing on both horse and rider whatever the weather or light conditions
If at all avoidable, don't ride in failing light, fog or darkness. Avoid icy or snowy roads
If riding a horse that is not used to roads, ask a rider with a horse who is experienced and calm to accompany you
Never take a mounted group of more than eight horses on the road
If riding two abreast, move into single file as soon as it is safe for the motorist to overtake. Don't ride more than two abreast on the road
Always cross major crossings in a group, rather than trickling across one by one
Leave details of your intended route and estimated time of return with a responsible person
 
bonny said:
What are reporting to the police ? A driver, unknown, drove past my horse too fast, nothing happened but it might have done ......if we all did that everytime we saw a driver doing something stupid then the police would spent all day, everyday dealing with cases where no harm came to anyone.
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My original post was in response to the OP, I don't think I have read your story. In no way do I think every little incident should be reported, but driving dangerously, putting other road users at risk should and OP has all the details.
 
Leviathan said:
You can dress it up how ever you want but careless driving is careless driving. You get points on your lisence for it,


A driving instructor should be watching 2 steps ahead of any situation or obstacle or potential hazard when out on a training lesson,and when the learner driver has past the point of a "learners" time to react he should intervene and make a judgement on braking and tell learner to go slower and move wider.




THINK! Advice


Advice for motorists

Slow down and be ready to stop if necessary
Look out for riders' signals to slow down or stop
Watch out for sudden movements, horses can be easily frightened and unpredictable
Don't sound your horn or rev your engine
Pass wide and slow when overtaking; giving the horse plenty of room. Don’t accelerate rapidly once you have passed them.
On roundabouts, horse riders will keep to the left within the roundabout until reaching their exit, when they will signal left. They will normally signal right only when approaching exits they don't intend to use

Advice for horse riders

Always display fluorescent/reflective clothing on both horse and rider whatever the weather or light conditions
If at all avoidable, don't ride in failing light, fog or darkness. Avoid icy or snowy roads
If riding a horse that is not used to roads, ask a rider with a horse who is experienced and calm to accompany you
Never take a mounted group of more than eight horses on the road
If riding two abreast, move into single file as soon as it is safe for the motorist to overtake. Don't ride more than two abreast on the road
Always cross major crossings in a group, rather than trickling across one by one
Leave details of your intended route and estimated time of return with a responsible person
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Now you are lecturing, not even sure who to .....this a a horse forum so hopefully we all drive safely past horses ! I agree with your careless driving comment but we all see drivers daily doing the same or worse, their are far too many incidences happening constantly to bother the police with them. I imagine they would say, thanks very much and file it somewhere very important, or maybe not !
 
Highway code IMO is not enough on horses on roads They ought to learn ROSPA as well for added information.


Drivers, driving along in their own world and approach a horse during the auto phase. This is when you are slower to react before incident or near miss happens.

Op I would write down as much info om the situation in a log book
Then if happens again you have double th amo..............................
 
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I can completely understand your predicament but I don't think this letter is a good idea. Firstly, it's written in quite an angry manner & secondly he/she is likely to tear it up & say you shouldn't have an extremely flighty animal on the road. Maybe re-write it when your in a more relaxed frame of mind, I think it would be more productive. I also think it would be worth getting in touch with their governing body. Good luck ;)
 
bonny said:
Now you are lecturing, not even sure who to .....this a a horse forum so hopefully we all drive safely past horses ! I agree with your careless driving comment but we all see drivers daily doing the same or worse, their are far too many incidences happening constantly to bother the police with them. I imagine they would say, thanks very much and file it somewhere very important, or maybe not !
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There is a difference between lecturing and copying a page from ROSPA


Actually for your info They will follow up a complaint when you give them enough to go on.

The time
The place
Make / model car
Reg

As I said black mark against the reg 3 will hit the driver hard and hit the wallet
 
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You are quite right, a driving instructor of all people should know better and be setting an example to follow. I seem to report another driver to the police every week, I usually manage to get the reg by repeating it out loud over and over again until it's safe enough to stop somewhere and type it in my phone. But because it's usually their word against mine nothing has yet been done - except a huge apology from one woman who admitted she had been careless and felt truly awful.

I am currently saving up for a good quality hatcam. The police have said any footage of dangerous driving I get to pass on to them and they will take relevant action.
 
Leviathan said:
many many people don't realise even the simplest things horses react to, and are most surprised when you explain.
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I agree with this. My village has it's own community facebook page and I once put a big post on it describing how horses react when they get frightened and went into great detail about what drivers should be doing in order to pass wide AND slow (not one or the other) and why. It got a great response, people admitted they had no idea (understandably not being horsey) how horses react to certain things and why.

If a driver has been extra considerate I make a point of thanking them through facebook (as well as waving at the time!), either by naming them or describing the car and what they done to be considerate, and I think the 'feel good' factor of that encourages more people to pass me safely.
 
Hi,
I am sorry about your near-miss on the road.

Writing a letter is not such a bad idea per-se, and I also agree with taking the matter to his Registering body.

The Police are unlikely to take action, as no injury or financial loss occurred and it is your word against whoever was in the car.

I also agree with other posters that the letter so far needs work, and is lecturing. I personally take exception to your assertation that 20 mph is the right speed to overtake a horse. While this may well be so for the road in question and for your horses I would be in danger if they did this on the back lane around our village as it is simply not wide enough for horse and vehicle to pass unless one stops altogether! A simple 20mph is safe is not the case, and would be variable even on the same stretch of road depending on a whole different host of variables (road works, wind, etc etc the list is endless).

If you wish to offer advice maybe you could put a leaflet into the letter? Then the letter could be general and friendly, and the advice given would be official and correct, in an official format and not personally from you.

I am glad that neither you or your horses were hurt. :-)
 
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When a car with a local driving instructor passed me like that I went and told my friend, who also has horses, about it. When he came to pick up her teenage daughter for her lesson a few days later she went ballistic at him and told him that if he drove like that he was no longer going to be giving her daughter lessons as they were getting an instructor who knew the Highway Code :p
 
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JingleSmells said:
Life has taught me that writing letters and making this type of complaint will do nothing to help the situation but could potentially make it worse.

Any letter received, no matter how nice it is, will not be taken as a lovely gesture and the risk is that, even if the driving instructor does always then slow down for horses and teach his pupils to, he will also harbour a general resentment, if he doesn't already do so. Pupils will pick up on this, some will think it is right and a new generation of drivers against horses is born.

Honestly, if it were dangerous, I would report it to the police as I would any driver. If they contact him, he will at least then know that any future complaints will only serve to create a record against him and he will not want to take that risk.

I have only ever known letter like that end up with bad blood and poor consequences.
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I agree....he'll probably file it in the bin!
 
WelshD said:
I would probably go in non confrontational and assume it was a pupil driving, a little less personal than directing the letter at the instructor and a bit more tactful. I would simply leave the highway code out of it and say that its worth reminding his pupils of the unpredictable nature of horses and that as horses have got less numerous on the roads some drivers dont encounter them regularly and are not sure how to react which is understandable and that you hope the instructor doesnt mind you writing and offering your thoughts on the subject
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I agree with this. If he's guilty and it wasn't a one off it'll maybe embarrass him into behaving differently next time.
 
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