Horse riders gather to promote safety on 'dangerous' Derbyshire roads

Horse riders gathered at events across Derbyshire to promote road safety and encourage drivers to be more patient.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The Pass Wide and Slow Rides on Sunday, September 19 aimed to highlight the importance of road safety around horses.

Dronfield horse rider Terri Amber and Bekki Brearley, from Ripley, were among those who organised rides to raise awareness of the fact close to two horses die on UK roads every week.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Terri said 13 riders headed out from Stubley Hollow Farm, in Dronfield, in two groups, for the event.

Horse riders gathered at an event in Dronfield to promote road safety and encourage drivers to be more patient.Horse riders gathered at an event in Dronfield to promote road safety and encourage drivers to be more patient.
Horse riders gathered at an event in Dronfield to promote road safety and encourage drivers to be more patient.

“We are asking drivers to pass slow, not more than 15 mph, wide, allowing 2m distance ideally,” Terri said

“Don't honk your horn or rev your engine. Respect rider's hand signals.

“Drive away slowly, without cutting the horse up.

“This way, we can hugely reduce scary incidents, injuries and fatalities, which can affect not only the horse and rider, but also the driver and passengers.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Terri said she was motivated to organise the event by statistics showing the ongoing danger of cars passing horses too close and too fast.

“There is no doubt that roads have become less safe places to be since the first lockdown,” she said.

"Drivers’ attitudes towards horses they meet on the roads appears to be getting worse.”

A total of 1,037 road incidents involving horses being reported to the British Horse Society (BHS), a 23 per cent increase from the previous year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Terri said. “Far more incidents go unreported.

"I’ve experienced it myself several times with near misses. On one occasion a motorbike came up behind too fast and I got stuck in the stirrup.

“I also had a lorry driver come really close maliciously and he shouted ‘get back in the field’ when he went past.”

Terri said other drivers created danger without meaning to, simply by passing too close to the horse and rider or too fast.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Topics covered included the need for more and ongoing education of drivers, changes in the Highway Code and the failure of the law and police to protect horse riders.