Metropolitan Police horses have received special training to get them used to Colourful Crossings in the capital.
The brightly-painted road markings have been spooking some of the force’s equine workers, so work has been undertaken to acclimatise the horses to the colourful displays.
Training versions were installed at the mounted unit’s base to allow the horses to see the crossings before they encounter them in public.
“Something we hadn’t expected was that some of the horses are getting spooked by the bright colours of the Colourful Crossings project and other road markings in central London,” said a spokesman for the Met Police Taskforce.
“To enable us to ride and patrol safely we had training versions installed. With help from Geveko Markings who donated our new Bright Training crossings, we can get the horses used to them before riding them out in public.”
They added that horses are not colour-blind, explaining their reaction to the new road markings.
“A misconception is that horses only see in black and white,” they said. “They may not see colour the way we do, bu they are not ‘colour blind’. Therefore, the differing shades and patterns of a colourful crossing could suggest an obstacle in the road, causing a horse to shy from something that we, as humans do not see. This eliminates risk to public, motorists or distress to our horses.”
Images by Met Police Taskforce
