Derbyshire horse riders appeal for better road safety amid upcoming protests

When Terri Amber, 58, was riding on a young horse along a narrow road, she repeatedly asked a lorry driver to stop for a minute and let her get out of the way.

Instead the driver started giving her malicious comments and accelerating behind her.

Bailey, her horse, started bucking in the middle of the road and the driver didn’t reduce his speed and drove away. Luckily, Terri didn't come off, but she was centimetres from falling down and injuring herself.

She said: “Some drivers are cautious, careful and courteous, but you still get a large percentage that are passing too fast or too close or both. They just want to get past as quickly as possible. But the thing is a horse can react very very quickly. And within a second it can all go wrong.

“It is a danger for a horse, for a rider and a risk of collision with a car as well. If a horse is hit on the road, by a vehicle even if the horse survives, it has a psychological impact, will influence it’s behaviour and its well being in the future. Bailey was more nervous afterwards on the roads and it took a while to get him comfortable again.”

To make travel safer for horses and riders as well as other vulnerable road users, Terri is organising a protest for Sunday, September 18 as a part of a national campaign.

Protesters will be riding from Terri’s yard through Dronfield to Stubley Hollow Farm. They will then be doing a loop around Dronfield and Hounsfield.

Terri said: “We will have banners, some people will be on foot, others on horses. We just want to try to draw drivers’ attention to our message - to pass slowly and carefully and give a good distance.”

Terri has organised a similar protest in the past and last year she set up a meeting with local MPs Lee Rowley and Toby Perkins.

After that meeting and other protests around the country, changes have been applied to the Highway Code, to support horse riders. New guidance states drivers should pass horses at no more than 10 miles per hour and keep two metres distance between them and the horse.

Terri said: “What we need is for the highway code to be implemented, taken seriously by the police and the courts, and for drivers to be educated.

“When the highway code was implemented, at the beginning of this year, there was no government education campaign. It was only highlighted by people like me around the country on regional news, but a lot of drivers probably don't even know about the new highway code.”

Another meeting with Toby Perkins will be held soon after it was rescheduled following the Queen’s death.

Terri said: “ The meeting is not just about road safety, it's also about off road access. A lot of walkers use our country lanes to get from one footpath or bridle way to another with their dogs and their kids.

“And why shouldn't they do that? Why should they be mowed down by people driving cars fast? We need to have big education campaigns about safely passing horse riders, carriage drivers, cyclists and walkers.”