TRAGEDYON BRITISH ROADS


six weeks. Theincidents, which took place in Cumbria,Hampshire, Oxfordshire, and Leicestershire, all occurred during daylight hours, while the riders wore Hi-Viz and with the cardriven straight intothe back of the horse.All four riderswereinjured, with two requiring hospital treatment. Statisticsreleased by The BritishHorse


T


Society in November showedroad incidents involving horsesand vehiclesare continuing to rise,with1037incidentsreported to the equine charityoverthe pastyear. Of the1037reported incidents, 81%ofthem


occurred duetovehiclespassing by tooclosely and close to halfweresubjecttoroad rage. The charityisurgingdrivers to be careful when


passinghorsesonthe road andencouraging them to adheretoits Dead Slowcampaignmessages. Dead Slow waslaunched to help better


educatedrivers on howtosafelypasshorses onthe road. The campaignconsistsoffourkey behavioural change messages to drivers:


IfIseeahorseontheroadthenIwill… 1. Slow down toamaximum of 15mph 2. Be patient– Iwon’tsound my horn or revmyengine 3. Pass the horse wide and slow, (if safe to do so)atleast2metres or acar’swidth if possible 4. Drive slowly away


Alan Hiscox,Director of SafetyatThe CASE STUDY2–ALI


he British Horse Societyis warning drivers to be vigilant on roadsafter four horseswere struck and killed by cars in just


British Horse Society said: “The incidents that have takenplaceoverthe past six weekshave beenboth tragicand extremely concerning.Weare asking alldriverstoslowand adhere to our Dead Slowmessages. Understandably,all the owners effectedare highly emotional. Speaking to them, it is clearthe lastingimpact losingtheirhorse in thesecircumstances willhaveontheir lives.” TheBHSencouragesallridersto


reporttheirincidentstothecharity, atwww.horseincidents.org.uk


SINCE NOVEMBER 2010: •4,774 road incidents •44people have losttheirlives and1220 injured •395 horseshavebeenkilled and 1,080 horses injured


NATIONAL STATISTICS: 2019 –2020 •1,037 road incidents involving horses have beenreportedtoThe BritishHorse Society


•Ofthese,80horseshavedied and 136havebeeninjured


•1 person has losttheirlifeand 135have beeninjuredbecause of road incidents


•43% of riderswerevictimstoroad rage or abuse •81% of incidentsoccurred because avehicle passed by tooclosely to thehorse


•40%of incidents occurred because avehiclepassed by tooquickly


All statisticsare from 28.02.2019– 29.02.2020


COMPARED TO LAST YEAR: •23% increase compared to 2018- 2019(845in2018-2019)


AND LOTTIE Ali Orton’sworst nightmarebecamea realityat the start of thisyearwhen her treasured horse, Lottie,tragically died after being struck by acar while outriding near heryardinLeicestershire. “My friendand Itook theroaddownintothe


village.It’sarouteI’vedonethousands of times.It’s aprettystraight road andyou cansee along way in front and behind you. Iheard acar coming from behind us, butI wasn’tworriedasseveral cars and bikes had already passeduswithnoissues. Ikept lookingbackand the carwas still coming buthadn’t yetpulled outtoovertake. Then Iheard the driver put their foot down as they left thevillage 30 limit. Theywereaccelerating towards us. It wasterrifying. As theygot closer, Iscreamed, stood up in my stirrupsand wavedmyarms at them to slowdown, but theyjustkept coming. Irememberlooking back and seeing the carwas onlyhalfameter or so away from theback of Lottie.I hadthisawful sinking feelingasI realised,weweregoing to have to take this hit, therewas no choice.Iremember the impactand the feelingofbothofusbeingcarried by the car, butIdon’t rememberthe fall afterthat.” Afterbeing thrownfromher horse, Ali sustained


painful shoulderand hip injuries, whiplash, a minorheadinjury,concussion andabrokentooth. Ali is thankfully nowonthe road to recovery but


sadly her “angel”,Lottie,was not so lucky. “Lottie wasonthe ground about tenmetres


further down the road in the hedgerow,thrashing and trying to stand up.I just remember screaming as Iran down to herand trying to call thevet. I went overtoher and held herheadtohelphold her up,she wasterrified. She wasinsomuchpain; shewas shaking andsweating. It wasawfulnot being able to do anything to take herpain away. Iremember saying to my friend “Can we save her?”,she replied justsaying “Ali, no,wecan’t”. That’s when it really hit home, Iwas going to lose my girl. The vetsaid she hadthree bad breaks in herrighthind leg andahaematoma.Wedon’t knowwhatdamage there wastoher leftside. The vethad to puther down. Irefusedtoleave her side,I needed to be with heruntil theveryend.” “I am completely heartbroken–Lottiehas been


ahugepart my life forthe past eightyears.She wasbomb-proofonthe roads. Shewasn’t scared by trafficand Ialwaysfeltsosafewithher.We trustedeach other implicitly.Lottie knew I’dnever put her in danger andviceversa.That’swhat makes it harder inaway.But Iswear she savedmy life– I’mconvincedshe’s the reasonI’m still alive. Shealso savedthe lifeofmyfriend and her horse that day, whowereonour inside whenthe carhit us. Lottie reactedsocalmly tryingtolook after me as she didsomanytimesbefore. Iknowifshe


CASE STUDY1– FRANCESCAAND BART


Francesca and herbelovedhorse, Bart, were out on their usual ride, whentheywerestruck by acar. Francesca said, “It all happened so fast.


We were walking along when suddenly Bart wasoff hisfeet,withhis back on thecar.I fell offand hit the floorand Bart wasnext to me.I could see he wasinsomuchpain”. Francesca sufferedtorn ligaments


and tendons, as well as nervedamage. If shehad notbeen wearing ahelmet her injuries could have been muchworse. She wasairliftedtohospital by the GreatNorth AirAmbulanceService. Bart waslessfortunateand,due to his


horrificinjures,hewas put down at the scene. Francesca,who isnow recovering well, is


determined that Bart willnot have died for nothing;“Bartwas my best friend, andI am surethatthe waythat he took theimpact savedmylife. He wassuch agentleman and wasgreat with theyounger horses.Henever spooked andhewould go out with the younger onestoshowthem howtobehaveonthe road. Ihaveset up agofund me pagecalled


Bart’sLegacy.The moneythatweraise will be splitbetween theGreat North Air Ambulance Service and foreducational purposes. Iamgoing to work with The British HorseSocietytohelp raise awareness of the issue becauseifitcan happen to me and Bart, it canhappentoanyone.” Francesca alsohasamessagefor drivers;


“I would ask driverstobeconsiderateonthe roads. Passingusslowand wide canmake arealdifference–itmight justsavealife”.


hadreacteddifferentlyitwould have made the horrificsituation even worse.” Ali neverwantsanyoneelse to go through


theheartache she hasexperienced. She has a message fordriversand vulnerable road users to avoidtragic incidentslikethisonthe roads: “Please be careful, especially in poor visibility. If


youcan’t see properly,donot putyour foot down.If your visibilityisreduced, your speed should match thatand only drivetowhatyou cansee.Please slowdown. Inever thoughtthiswould happen to her.Iwant people to realise it could happen to anyone,eventhe very safest of horses. We were wearing plenty of Hi-Vizthat day. Although Iamnow putoff riding on the roads, whenever Idoride another horse again, Ihaveinvestedin even moreHi-Vizgeartomakemeand my horse even morevisible.Iwish cyclists andwalkers would also wear moreHi-Viz, it is much safer.”


8


FEBRUARY/MARCH2021


Forthe latestnewsvisitwww.centralhorsenews.co.uk


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