One of our supporters is on a mission to improve people’s understanding around passing riders and carriage drivers safely on the roads.
Helen Henderson from Newark, who fosters Bransby Evan, is worried drivers are ignoring the law.
She has reported a number of incidents where drivers have passed at speed to the police and has also contacted her local council about bridleways which have become overgrown and impassible.
Helen said: “I feel as if drivers don’t care half the time. You feel as if you are taking your life into your own hands.
“I live at the side of the old A46 (Fosse Way) in Newark, so I have to go out onto the roads with my cart and I’m finding all the time that drivers are passing me at 50mph and 60mph in both directions, and they don’t seem to have a clue about the highway code. The law is 10mph.”
“We also have a lot of bridleways near us but many of them are just impassible.”
Helen has had the support of her local newspaper, who featured her story when the matter was discussed at the Syerston Parish meeting recently.
Bransby Horses Rehoming Manager Rosanna Hart said: “Helen and Evan have done an amazing job at bringing the issue of road safety to the attention of the public, the police and local councils.
“Horses have as much right to be on the road as everyone else and raising awareness of how to pass them safely in a vehicle, will, hopefully, help to reduce the number of incidents occurring on our roads.”
The British Horse Society are currently running the Dead Slow campaign, drivers can find out more on their website and horse riders are encouraged to log any incidents with them at www.bhs.org.uk/go-riding/record-an-incident/
Through the campaign the BHS have collated the number of incidents on the roads involving horses.
In 2023 Lincolnshire saw the most reported incidents involving horses and traffic within the East Midlands with 403 recorded followed by 67 in Derbyshire and 63 in Nottinghamshire.
The Highway Code was updated in 2022 and states if drivers see a horse on the road they should:
- Slow down to a maximum of 10mph
- Be patient, I won’t sound my horn or rev my engine
- Pass the horse wide and slow – at least two metres
- Drive slowly away
