Think! Road Safety
 

Here's a link to a large video clip (18Mb approx). A really effective safety message I reckon. Good job :)

http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/ca...perfectday.mpg

Other download options can be found here: http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/ca...edia.htm#video

[Edited on 3-7-2004 by Loz]

Every car driver should see that.................its an accurate portrayal of what we have to put up with day in day out.

Probably 10 times worse down in Dorset :D

Don't get me started on the drivers down here....... Hells has a 95 year old patient that is still driving !!!!!.... Says it all really !

Frightening with a capital OMG !

Mmmm...Thought provoking...Why is it not shown on Prime time though???
Is it really what we have to PUT UP WITH though...???If we dont want to put up with it then we need to get off the road and on the track.

We already know what hazards are out there...we all choose to ride bikes...Surely this is just a reminder to all those that want to ride that we should all be riding defensively...
Expect the unexpected and all that...:)

Reckon you should include the horse riders with the car drivers Everton, I never fail to get annoyed when coming round a corner to be faced with a pile of steaming horse shite !!! They are quick enough to shake their fists at us bike riders for making too much noise and frightening their horses.

Roads are too busy these days for horses, the government banned handguns for no valid reason, let's ban horses next.

Seconded - it scares me that on small, almost single track roads you have adults, and oftern young children, piloting something which can be uncontrollable....many on roads which have 50 and 60mph speed limits and without any need for insurance etc..

and unlike a cyclist, you cannot take easy evasive action, and give a wide birth, because of the risk the horse will react.

Who would be at fault if you rounded a corner, at 40 in a 50, and ran straight into the back of one? I am surprised we dont hear more about it..keep horses where they belong, off the road!

It's the tractors in Dorset u have to worry about!

And no need to put yaself down Tart 1, we know u're really 97!!

We had exactly the same problem on the Essex rideout this weekend. I was in the lead and came round a left-hand bend in a 30 zone (doing 30 would you believe) and I spotted the horse and rider about 300 yards in the distance.

She spotted me at the same time, and I backed off the throttle, but straight away she was furiously waving her hand motioning for me to slow down. WTF? As soon as she spots me she's going ape - how did she know what speed I was doing? I was already slowing down, but she obviously knew better and decided I was riding too fast.

Normally I don't have a problem with horses or their owners - I slow down for them as bikers and horse-riders tend to have a mutual respect for each other - but this woman, who was not wearing a helmet nor reflective clothing, automatically decided I was in the wrong.

I just bimbled past shaking my head and let her get on with it. I found at as we stopped that she gave all the others who came past a load of grief too, even though they were pootling through the village as well.

Looks like it's not just one stupid biker who spoils it for the rest - the same applies for horse riders too!

Let's not get too carried away here!

Horse travel has been around far longer than motor vehicles and I suspect that there would be many who would say they have right of way (much like sail having priority over motor in the boating world).

If horses are banned due to them '..not being suitable to todays road conditions..', how long before someone decides that m/cycles should also be banned due to the high percentage of motorcyclists who are injured/killed on the roads each year?

IMHO if you're riding around small country lanes you should expect to find horses, tractors, mud, diesel, etc. since that's the norm. (whether you think it's right or not!). You don't often see a horse rider travelling down a dual carriageway as this tends to be the natural domain of the motor vehicle.

When in the countryside you have to be prepared for countryside hazards, just like in town you have to be ready for the hazards there (cameras (!), pedestrians, etc.). You have to adapt your riding to the environment you're in. There will always be the minority in a group who will upset it for the rest as Antony says - but mostly I've not had a problem with horse riders.

I don't know if a horse rider needs any training and/or insurance before venturing on the road (I suspect not), perhaps CK can comment on this - I feel sure she'll want to :D

Its funny how some people go out for a ride and come back with all sorts of stories about near misses and did you see that idiot car driver etc. I do about 10,000 miles a year on my bike and i dont have 10% of the incidents that some appear to have.

Naaay ,Steady Black Beauty them there machines are 100 times more powerful than you, don't bolt ,throw me off ,crap all over the road,change direction or do anything stupid.Your'e just a stupid horse and if i was,t keeping you under control you would just love to stick you nice shiny shoes right into that noisy motor bikes fairing, even worst jump on it. Fair dues guys, they are just another hazard we have to put up with.Far better to give em a little bit of curtisy than having to stop and render first aid on a fallen rider.
Most of the riders around my kneck of the woods are often young girls, most all ways wear a smile ,we get the occasional old nag out, thats the rider not the horse who can be a bit of an old frump. I hav,nt looked into my mirrors thankfully, on passing to see a wild west rodeo taking place because iv'e upset the horse :lol:
I do find it a little frustrating though when we have hundreds of miles of bridleways to find the roads being used by horses. Commom sense must prevail and wonder why ther'e on the road in the first place. 4D

[Edited on 5-7-2004 by Fordie]

Ban this, ban that, just add it to the list that the nanny state in gonna ban or has already in recent years,

Some so called government experts have already given up on mototcyclists as a lost cause as whet we do is inherently dangerous.

Just what has happened to people taking responsibilty for there own actions?

Time to ask to be on the next series of grumpy old men?

Any candidates for the follow up series, grumpy old women?

PS if you run into the back of any other road user it's pretty much your fault regardless of how slow/ stopped they are.
Running into a the back of horse doesn't bare thinking about, Mr bean and the christmas turkey is an image that springs to mind!!

Ray

car is worse than bike - its easier to aviod with a bike. I do 50k+ in a car and see my fair share of horses on the roads. Just worries me that one day I will turn a tight country corner and come across one and wont be able to stop - and sorry but I cannot do 20mph on all bends;)

I do agree about the horse thing (and i hope Lynn doesnt read this cos she's got one!) I dont think thay have any place mixing it with the traffic on todays roads, not only for the safety of other orad users but for the safety of the horse rider as well.

This from a non-bike mate:


Great video and good ending!
If only the prat on a bike yesterday had seen it!
Sitting in the outside lane on the Marylebone High Road stationary at lights, second from the front and I have a biker penned in but determined to wiggle to the front.
Rev, rev, wiggle, wiggle, back and forth - trying his best but it's too tight - he's getting very frustrated. I can't move back and why should I??? I notice his tank is really bashed up and the rest of bikes is in bad shape. Three seconds later, lights change and I hold back for a second to let him through and out of my life - great he's off wiggling through the two lanes of tight traffic and suddenly he sees the back of a stopped arctic - something the rest of us have been aware of the whole time - he jams on the brakes, front wheel locks, he's off and the bike spins and hits the back of the lorry! He's back on his feet as if nothing has happened, bike under the lorry and bits all over the road. Miraculously he only hit the lorry and the rest of us simply drive round the incident, mouthing the words - "What a Prat!!!" as we get on with our lives...and leave them to it!