British Horse Society's Dead Slow campaign aims to cut accidents and near misses involving horses

A joint operation between police and an equine charity has been educating motorists about the potential dangers of driving past horses.

The Dead Slow campaign is being run by the British Horse Society to help cut the number of accidents and near-misses involving horses.

As part of the campaign, Nottinghamshire Police joined colleagues from South Yorkshire Police and the British Horse Society in a three-hour operation on a rural road.

Two mounted officers patrolled a stretch of road between Harby and Wigsley, which has been identified as high risk.

Other officers observed drivers, stopped any passing dangerously, and explained the risks posed to the rider, horse and car driver.

During the operation, which ran between 1pm and 3pm, officers stopped ten drivers, who were given advice about how pass horses safely.

Safety team leader for the British Horse Society, Des Payne, said the society recommended following four simple steps ­— slowing down to a maximum of 15mph; being patient, and not sounding the horn or revving the engine; pass the horse wide and slow, if safe to do so, by at least a car’s width if possible; driving slowly away

The society recorded more than 400 road incidents involving horses between 2017 and 2018 and 30% of the riders in the incidents reported that they received abuse from a motorist.

More than 80% of the incidents occurred because of a car passing too close to a horse and, out of the 404 incidents, 74 horses were injured, 94 riders were injured and eight horses and one carriage driver were killed.

Last year, there was a 75% increase in the number of reported incidents in Nottinghamshire and, across the East Midlands, there was a 14% increase.

Chief Inspector Louise Clarke of Nottinghamshire Police, who is also a horse-rider, said: “I’m extremely grateful to our colleagues from South Yorkshire Police for their help.

“The work that the British Horse Society is doing is so important in keeping our roads safe.

“A horse’s natural instinct is to flee from any potential threat and they can be startled by many things. Unfortunately, the consequences of this can be fatal for both the horse and the rider.

“We’re reminding people to respect their fellow road users – it won’t add much onto your journey to slow down and wait for a safe place to overtake.

“By being careless when passing horses, you could be putting someone’s life in danger or threatening the life of their horse.

“There’s no excuse for driving recklessly and I hope this initiative has educated the people who were stopped.”

Des Payne said: “If all road users are considerate of one another we can help reduce the risk of incidents”.