MPs’ debate is a ‘big step’ towards safer road riding
Suggestions on speed limits, legislation and driving test changes were made during a House of Commons debate
A HOUSE of Commons debate on horse and rider road safety was a “real step forward”, according to British Horse Society (BHS) safety director Alan Hiscox.
The debate last Tuesday (4 July) was called by St Ives MP Derek Thomas, whose constituent Debbie Smith’s petition on the issue had been signed by more than 100,000 people.
“Horse riders make up a significant group of vulnerable road users, but despite there being 2.7 million across the UK, they often find themselves the forgotten demographic — an afterthought in the minds of drivers and unacceptably low down many politicians’ priority lists,” Mr Thomas said, adding that since the BHS’s horse accidents website launched in 2010, 2,510 road incidents with horses had been reported.
“That is but the tip of the iceberg,” he added. “Most significantly, 222 horses and 38 riders have been killed. This problem is not in decline.”
Mr Thomas praised the engagement in a public “digital debate” held the previous day, during which nearly 1,500 people had shared their views on the issue on Facebook.
He said a “strong belief ” was that riders’ safety “has become a low priority”, and that “people on horses are not necessarily welcome on the roads”.
He added that drivers may have good intentions but “may be unaware of what speed and at what distance they should pass the horse”, that riders feel powerless as their hand signals are “rarely understood and seldom acknowledged” and that CCTV from hat cameras is “not routinely followed up by police”. He also called for a lower speed limit on rural roads.
Mr Thomas’s colleagues, in rural and urban constituencies, agreed the issue is important and paid tribute to the BHS’s Dead Slow campaign.
THINK! HORSE
SUGGESTIONS included taking inspiration from the government’s THINK! Bike campaign and changing the driving test to include more emphasis on horses.
Mr Thomas also recommended “empowering police” to ensure they make full use of powers to pursue drivers who do not show due care and attention when meeting horses on the road.
South-east Cornwall MP Sheryll Murray suggested possible incentives, such as a discount on insurance, to riders who hold road safety test certificates, while Meriden MP Dame Caroline Spelman asked the minister to consider a new designation for off-road riding routes due to the “terrible dearth” of bridleways.
DIFFERENT FIGURES
IN response, roads minister Jesse Norman said police figures show no rider fatalities for 2015.
“I recognise these numbers do not by any means tally with the numbers reported to the BHS, or the numbers quoted here,” he said. “I absolutely welcome the potential for co-operation between the BHS and our statisticians. I offer them for the purposes of establishing a set of accepted, worthwhile statistics from which we can all calibrate and understand the problem.”
Mr Norman said that since a meeting between Mr Thomas and previous roads minister Andrew Jones last year, the department had worked with the BHS to support the Dead Slow campaign, on a video, leaflets and posters.
He said minimum distances and speeds when passing horses would be “difficult to enforce and impractical in some circumstances” and that speed limits are “in many cases local matters, locally configured”.
He added that those who drive recklessly around horses can be prosecuted under existing laws, and that a revised driving test aimed at being “more reflective of a real-life driving journey” will be in place from December.
After the debate, Debbie Smith said it had gone well but she was disappointed by Mr Norman, as “he was just defending what’s already been done”.
Mr Hiscox said he is looking forward to working “even more closely” with the department for transport, “now Derek Thomas has highlighted some issues”.
“I think some of these are issues we can all work on together, as well as other vulnerable road user groups; Cycling UK was very interested in this debate as we share a lot of the same messages,” he said. “I think today is an important step forward.”
Mr Hiscox added that he had been asked to give a webinar to driving instructors, to help them educate learners on passing horses, and that the BHS’s rider responsibility evenings, which encourage riders to think about improving their own safety, have been successful.
‘Most significantly, 222 horses and 38 riders have been killed. This problem is not in decline’
MP DEREK THOMAS