EQUESTRIAN
Photo : supplied by BHS
Dead ? or
Dead Slow ?
New statistics reveal threat on Britain ’ s roads for horse riders
Over 60 per cent of incidents involving horses on the roads happen between 10am and 3pm , with accidents most commonly occurring in June , new statistics from The British Horse Society ( BHS ) reveal . The statistics are disclosed as the charity announces the launch of a campaign urging drivers to slow down to 15mph when they meet a horse and rider on the road . In the five years since the launch of its horse accidents website , over 2,000
80 www . visitilife . com reports of road incidents involving horses have been reported to the charity . Of these , 36 caused rider deaths , and 181 resulted in a horse dying from their injuries or being put to sleep . 75 per cent of accidents happened because the vehicle passed the horse without allowing enough space , while over a quarter of respondents said that they also had to deal with driver road rage during the incident . The majority of these incidents happened on a minor road and in a rural area . Nearly half of the horses involved were used to riding on the roads more than once a week . Since the launch of the BHS horse accidents website in November 2010 :
• 90 per cent of respondents were female .
• 1,799 of respondents were involved in an accident in England , 146 in Wales , 115 in Scotland , and 10 in Northern Ireland .
• The counties with the highest number