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As short as this gripe is, this story really makes my blood boil. Rightly or wrongly, it is currently legal to ride horses on the road in the UK. Indeed, they are actually catered for in the Highway Code. Drivers are urged to pass horses wide and slow, taking particular care when travelling round left hand bends because there could be horses on the other side.
There are 12 accidents PER DAY on our roads involving horses - thankfully, some of these are minor, but the majority of these range from serious to fatal for horse and/or rider.
Horses on the road - please, show a bit of human decency and slow down as you pass
All that is required is a little thoughtfulness. Surely it is not a lot to ask of motorised road users that they observe the Highway Code which is, after all, the law, not just a whim.
Even if you disagree with the fact that horses are allowed on our roads, do not take it out on them - the riders are there by choice, the horses are not, they go where they are ridden.
So please, show a bit of human decency when next you drive past horses on the road. You should, in turn, receive a smile, a nod or even a raised hand in thanks. If you do not, then may I apologise in advance for the rudeness of the rider/riders involved. They are ignorant, ill-mannered people who deserve the tongue-lashing that hopefully you will give them - but remember, please do not take it out on the horse!
By: Nikki
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I suspect not and why?...quite simply this driver like many other of the impatient and bad tempered motorists who for some reason believe they are more entitled than others has developed such an ingrained and potentially dangerous attitude to driving that the thought of getting out of the way for another slightly more angry driver behind is incomprehensible to them.
Fact - road tax does not exist, roads are paid for by general taxation meaning we all pay for the roads and are all equally entitled to use the highway.
Fact - 1.2 million people around the world are killed in a motoring accident of some kind, the 'great car experiment' really is a monstrous failure.
Fact - The horse riders concerned are well within their rights to ride side by side, the fact this inconveniences another individual is irrelevent and the reason they ride like this is to increase their presence on the road to help prevent moronic and impatient motorists from 'accidentally' driving into the back of them at 70mph when they 'came out of nowhere' or whatever similar excuse the motorist vomits out in excuse of shoddy driving.
Fact - if you are incapable of using the road with the huge responsibility that goes with a licence then do the world a favour and surrender your licence as the incompetent and small minded cretin you might have become. We all own the road, if you can't play nicely and display a touch of human decency and intelligence then that really is pathetic.
As for angry driver it seems you chose to overtake in a poorly thought out fashion and quite rightly when you made a cock up of it you were made aware of that. Ask yourself a question. If this was about a car being 'in your way' , which to be honest is the actual crux of that particular post, this wouldn't even be raised as an issue would it now?
Fact is anything other than another car would become the focus of your own bitterness and all because you were delayed by a couple of minutes and the rider, who factually has their life put in danger for no other reason than an incompetent and badly executed overtaking attempt expresses their anger at you?
A car is a bit of metal, how would you feel being run over by yet another impatient motorist?
IT IS ILLEGAL to drive too fast/too close/ passed horses. THEY HAVE RIGHT OF WAY ON THE ROAD, end of. However anachronistic this may sound, if you don't like it, then do something about it, contact your MP, lobby your local council, get off your backsides and do something about it instead of just moaning.
The law is the law, and until it becomes illegal to ride horses on the road, then horses will be ridden on the road.
As for the ludicrous suggestion that horses should wear nappies !!
I would suggest that people find out about a subject before making "helpful" suggestions. If they knew anything at all about horses, they would realise the ludicrousness of such a suggestion.
anti-troll: I agree entirely with what you have said, I really shouldn't rise to the bait, should I, so I won't!
As for my spelling, well, it's pretty perfect as far as I am concerned. Point out my spelling mistake and I will apologise.
And to answer the pathetic little person who thinks they will wind me up - yes, horse meat is delicious, so is donkey, so is goat.
Perhaps people could leave home a little earlier and not be in so much of a rush.
I am open minded and reasonable when it comes to horses being on the roads - they should be on minor roads mainly where traffic flow is less, should be insured and both horse and rider trained before they are on the roads. But yet still all some people can see is that fact I ride a horse therefore must be stuck up and snobbish, posh and rich. I am none of those - I happen to be a normal person who loves horses and everything about them. That's all.
common is the right word for you. I don't agree that there is no place in the modern world for horses but there is definitely no place for using the word "retard".
Nikki, for heaven's sake it is just the same troll starting this "discussion" up every few weeks just to wind you up. Don't feed trolls!
Cole
Churchill was a very wise man and he knew that if such a system of entitlement were in existence there would be some who would use it to bully and intimidate those without it...it was therefore dispensed with and given the number of motorists who still believe they are 'more entitled' than others Churchill was proved completely right.
Here's a thought. How about we actually divide the cost of road maintenance in the UK by the number of cars and let them pay for the roads in the way they think they do? Rest assured there would be many who couldn't afford the cost for 'road tax', which would run into the thousands per year and we'll hopefully let richer and more intelligent motorists use roads. Offensive? Inaccurate? Not P.C?
Of course, like many of the reckless and frankly dangerous attitudes that we have to read on sites like this. It really is simple. We all have equal right to the roads. If you drive in a manner that you wouldn't have done during your driving test then it's you, not other people, that has issues to resolve.
We're all just getting from A to B, stop claiming superiority, have some self respect and concern for others and we can stop burying loved ones and leaving bunches of flowers at the roadside.