Dangers faced by horse riders using the roads - March 2017

Stay safe and take care of each other. Rural roads are shared spaces used for leisure purposes by cyclists, horse riders, runners and walkers and all have the same entitlement to use those roads as motorists. When you approach that blind bend in your vehicle, slow down sensibly because you just don’t know what is on the other side of it. There are also many concealed entrances from which a tractor or other heavy motorised machine may appear at very short notice. If you are driving at maximum permitted speed or even faster, your chances of surviving such a collision are drastically reduced. It’s all about common sense. Living out your rally driving fantasies on those winding country roads significantly raises the chances of death or injury and not just for those that you collide with. Imagine being paralysed from the waist-down because you chose to drive too fast for the conditions on a rural road. Would your life still be worth living?