Horserider posts headcam videos to highlight problems with drivers

A HORSERIDER who has had many near misses with drivers while out riding has been posting videos caught on her headcam in a bid to raise awareness.

Devon Storey, 30, from Everthorpe, near Hull, says her choices of where she can take her 12-year-old horse Prince are limited and the lack of bridleways means she has to stick to local roads.

But in the past year she has become concerned and frustrated by road users passing unsafely. Previously she had stopped riding 12-year-old Prince because of the number of close calls, but after he went lame, she was told he needed regular hacks as part of his rehabilitation.

She said: “I find it frustrating that for his health and wellbeing I’m having to ride him out and feel I am putting him in an unsafe situation.”

She said posting videos on local community pages had yielded a positive response, adding: “I found many didn’t realise drivers practiced such dangerous driving when passing horses and it turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to not only obtain support from locals but also educate some who had questions.”

Among the videos she has posted is one of a sports car which can be seen overtaking and nipping in front of her before an oncoming line of traffic. Another shows a motorcycle also passing close by and at speed. A car pulling a caravan is shown giving her a wide berth, but she said it was “big and noisy and going at that speed it made me jump at the time.”

She says she is lucky Prince is not nervous in traffic, but if a younger horse or rider was involved it could be a different story. She says the recent changes in the Highway Code – motorists must allow at least two metres (6ft) of space and are advised not drive any faster than 10mph – have helped.

She said she understood drivers may feel frustrated but it was not an excuse to put their safety at risk, She said: “If you can’t consider our safety consider your own and that of the passenger. My horse weighs half a tonne and if he lands on your bonnet he will do some damage. I’d ride him somewhere else if I had a chance but it’s just so limited I don’t have options.”

Horses, alongside pedestrians and cyclists, are considered vulnerable in the hierarchy of road users. The advisory speed for passing horses has been cut from 15mph to 10mph. The British Horse Society described the changes as a significant step forward.