New statistics released by The British Horse Society (BHS) show road incidents involving horses and vehicles remain “worryingly high”.
1,010 incidents were reported to the equine charity over the past year. 80% of these occurred due to vehicles passing by too closely and close to half were subject to road rage.
Although this represents a decrease of 3% compared to the previous year, the charity is still very concerned by the number of incidents, especially considering the periods of lockdown which prevented riders from getting out over the last year.
However, the number of horses that died on Britain’s roads almost halved during the same period.
“The number of incidents involving horses on Britain’s roads remain far too high, despite the time spent in lockdown over the past year,” said Alan Hiscox, Director of Safety at the BHS.
“With 80% of the incidents reported to us having occurred due to vehicles passing too close it is evident that there is still a great need for better education on how to safely pass horses on the road.
“It is also deeply concerning that close to half of riders were subject to road rage. We all have a right to feel safe on the roads and no one should face abuse for exercising this right.”
The charity has launched a new free safety app, Horse i, which will allow riders to easily report incidents as soon as the get back to the yard.
“Only 1 in 10 people report incidents to us and we hope the new BHS safety reporting app, ‘Horse i’ will encourage more people to report these incidents to us,” added Mr Hiscox.
The BHS is urging drivers to be careful when passing horses on the road and encouraging them to adhere to its Dead Slow campaign messages.
The campaign consists of four key behavioural change messages to drivers:
If I see a horse on the road then I will …
- Slow down to a maximum of 15mph
- Be patient – I will not sound my horn or rev my engine
- Pass the horse wide and slow, if safe to do so, at least a car’s width if possible
- Drive slowly away
The Horse i app is available to download for free from the apple store and google play. Equestrians who do not use smart phones can record incidents via the BHS’s online form at horseincidents.org.uk
