Road Safety

I’m increasingly appalled by the behavior of car drivers on my road.  People just don’t seem to know how to pass horses safely.  Flying by at 45-50 mph is NOT safe.  Honking your horn, blearing the radio, or revving an engine isn’t bright either.  A friend of mine a few years back was riding on a wide grass shoulder along a dirt road when her horse spooked at something in the grass.  He ran up into the road and in the path of an oncoming car.  Thankfully, the car was traveling slowly due to road conditions causing only minor bruising to the horse’s hindquarters but really beating up the car.  Luckily the rider was not hurt. This is a prime example of most horse car interactions.  The horse is not afraid of the vehicle but is afraid of the empty beer can tossed on the side of the road.  A vehicle passing too quickly at the wrong time could end up with a spooked horse on their hood instantly and the life of a rider on their hands. 

Thankfully the smartest people I’ve come in contact with on the roads have been bikers.  Yes, those big burly men on Harley’s are the nicest people.  They slow down to a stop, let me pass them and wait until I’m a good distance away before taking off.  THANK YOU BIKERS!  

I was hunting around on YouTube and found this British educational video for drivers on how to act when you approach horses on the road.  Nicely done, and yes, your car will lose if you don’t follow these simple rules.

This entry was posted on July 20, 2007 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.