Thames Valley Police conducted a ‘close pass’ undercover mounted road safety operation last week (23 February).
Officers from the force’s Roads Policing and Mounted Sections patrolled Finmere on the Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire border, educating drivers around how to safely pass horses.
The joint operation was conducted with the support of Travel Safe Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service and the British Horse Society.
Police horses Atlas and Viktor with their riders PC Silk and Weir were involved in the “important education programme”, with motorists who got too close, or who drove too quickly past them, provided with advice and education on how to pass slow and wide, for the safety of themselves, horses and riders.
The force also shared a video to show how slow and wide people with vehicles should be passing horses.
“Drivers need to be prepared to slow down to 10mph when passing a horse and its rider and leave at least a two metre gap,” said PC Liz Johnson from the Roads Policing Unit.
“Horses can often be spooked by vehicles getting too close or by driving too quickly past them, and this can result in incidents which can injure both the horses, their riders, and also potentially result in road traffic collisions causing damage to vehicles and injuries to drivers.
“Our operation was one of educating drivers and providing them with useful information around safety when passing horses.”
PC Johnson also thanked Finmere CE Primary School for providing their car parking facilities for the officers to set up their education centre for the day.
