Horse riders tell us they don't feel safe on North Yorkshire's roads
Figures from the British Horse Society show a big rise in incidents last year
Drivers in North Yorkshire are being urged to slow down when passing horses - as some riders tell us how frightened they feel heading out onto the road.
It's been a year since new guidelines came asking us to leave at least two metres space and go at a max of 10mph.
Bu Suzannah Kilvington who has horses near Malton says things haven't improved.
She has been telling us about one near miss she experienced while out on a hack: "A man came round a corner, a blind bend, very very fast, there was a ditch on one side and a hedge on the other so we couldn't go anywhere. He came flying round the corner and missed us by feet doing between 40 and 50mph."
It comes exactly a year after new guidance was issued urging drivers to pass at a maximum of 2mph and to gives riders at least two metres space.
"Too many horses still being injured and killed on our roads "
In 2022, three horses were killed on Yorkshire’s roads. Overall, a total of 324 incidents in Yorkshire were logged via The British Horse Society’s (BHS) ‘Horse i’ app last year – this is around 6 incidents every week. West Yorkshire was the worst affected area with 134 incidents, followed by North Yorkshire - 89 incidents, and East Yorkshire and Humber – 57 incidents and one horse fatality.
Across the UK, the equine charity received details of over 3,550 equine related road incidents in 2022, which is a notable 21% increase on the number reported in 2021.
Alan Hiscox, Director of Safety at the British Horse Society says: “Horses are still being killed and injured on our roads, riders continue to be seriously injured and too many drivers underestimate the importance of driving carefully around horses. This is detrimental to the safety of equestrians. You only have to look at the two horses who were tragically killed in the space of just two weeks at the beginning of 2023!
Our fear is that guidelines aren’t being clearly explained and delivered; this needs to change. Urgent action is required to make every road user aware of the Highway Code changes and, critically, why it’s so important to pass horses with care. Only through working collaboratively to educate and drive awareness will we be able to stop these awful incidents from happening over and over again.”