Horse riders ask for support to stay safe on the roads

A campaign has been launched to change the law to recognize horse riders as vulnerable road users.
Photograph: SUPPLIED

The West Coast Regional Transport Committee has offered support for a nationwide campaign to have horse riders officially recognized as vulnerable road users.

This month the committee heard a presentation from equestrian safety advocate Julia McLean, who recently petitioned Parliament on behalf of equestrian associations across the country.

The petition, signed by nearly 9,000 people, demands that the government acknowledge the sensitivity of horse riders in transportation legislation.

“We are currently in the ‘other road user’ category which provides no benefits and most importantly we are not included in education or road safety messaging,” McLean said.

He told the committee that horse riders are constantly faced with careless and dangerous behavior from drivers.

“We are receiving reports from our riding groups of horses being killed: one was at Reefton, another was at Ruatoki; just two weeks ago a lorry hit a horse and killed it, and the rider was taken to hospital.”

He told the committee motorists were also put at risk by aggressive drivers honking their horns, closing their windows and shouting, and passing fast and too close.

But unlike crashes involving pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users, such incidents involving horses were not included in the statistics.

He said when he asked NZTA for data all it could tell him was that 13 infringements had been reported in 13 years for failing to pay attention to a ride or animal.

Julia McLean campaigns on behalf of riding associations across the country for greater protection for horse riders on the roads.
Photograph: SUPPLIED

“When someone gets close enough to touch your stirrup or honks their horn as they pass by… that is harassment, it is everywhere.”

In one southern case, a truck driver said he refused to slow down despite hand signals and crashed right in front of the driver.

McLean said he had asked New Zealand police’s road safety manager to look at providing a ‘tick box’ for horse riders in incident reports.

“This is a small, low-cost measure that will enable us to have some accurate data, an informed understanding of what’s going on on the roads and therefore some targeted road safety messaging.”

His experience when he fractured his skull in a near-fatal driving accident on the Kaiapoi road at the age of 25 had motivated him to become a safety advocate.

“I lost all my memories of my childhood; my sense of taste and smell were gone forever. I was in a coma for a week, I lost my career, and it took me 16 years to fully recover,” he said. LDR.

His accident was not caused by a car; When a piece of paper on the edge of the cliff suddenly moved in the wind, his horse was startled and threw him.

But he said the incident was a painful reminder of what can happen if a horse gets spooked.

The United Kingdom and Australia recently changed their road codes to give drivers clear instructions about passing horses.

“It needs to be clear. We can’t assume people understand this anymore. Common sense is not important. We actually have to tell people what we need, which is two meters wide to pass a horse wide and slow.”

McLean told the committee a total of 37 organizations were backing his campaign, including the police, trucking companies, pony clubs and 10 other regional councils.

Transport Committee chairman Peter Ewen was supportive of McLean’s safety campaign.

“There are a lot of narrow roads in rural New Zealand and we have cyclists on those roads. I’d like to think those drivers are treated with courtesy.”

Parish Council chairman Peter Haddock said he sympathized with the cause but had reservations about passengers on state highways.

“I would encourage it on low-volume municipal roads, but I would struggle to support driving on highways where traffic is closely monitored.

“It’s hard to suddenly see that there’s a horse in front of you and you’re slowly passing him and going from 100 km/h to 10 km/h. It’s a dangerous situation.”

McLean said horse riders don’t want to ride on highways, and accidents occur on local roads at speeds of up to 30 mph.

He called on West Side mayors and current chairs to consider horseback riders when building shared trails such as bike lanes.

“We don’t need a hard surface, just some dirt or grass around the edge.”

The Transport Committee agreed to draft a letter to national transport authorities endorsing McLean’s safety campaign but expressing reservations about horses on highways.

LDR is local body journalism jointly funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.