please Please PLEASE!
Please please PLEASE could all horse riders, especially those with dark horses (bay, brown, black etc) all wear fluorescents when riding on the road. PLEASE!
I was driving home through a village. I drive along that road most days. The sun was shining bright this morning. The road is lined with trees. I went around a corner and almost ran into the back of a horse & rider!
Now, let me stress something. I KNOW that there are a lot of horses in the area. I drive accordingly. I was BELOW the speed limit. It was near impossible to see the horse & rider because the rider was wearing a dark green t-shirt & silk on her hat, black jods & boots. The horse was dark bay. They were riding right on the very edge of the road, I'm talking just about an inch away from the edge of the road, right under the trees and in the shade. I had just driven from a very bright sunny part under the trees. It takes your eyes a few seconds to adapt. The ONLY reason I saw this horse when I did was because it has ONE white sock on a back foot and the horse happened to kick out to nothing as I approached it and that caught my eye first.
It is SO EASY to not see a horse & rider. I myself didn't realise just how easy it is to not see them until I just had this happen.
Then, to make it worse, as I went to SAFELY overtake the horse it kicked out again at my car. I was, as it happens, on the other side of the road because I am a good driver when it comes to these things so the horse didn't actually kick my car, but still... OMG, what a disaster that all could have been if it was someone else driving who doesn't look out for horses in that area instead of me. I would not be surprised later on to hear on the news that said girl & her horse had someone run into the back of them. I can not explain how invisible they were!
I was driving home through a village. I drive along that road most days. The sun was shining bright this morning. The road is lined with trees. I went around a corner and almost ran into the back of a horse & rider!
Now, let me stress something. I KNOW that there are a lot of horses in the area. I drive accordingly. I was BELOW the speed limit. It was near impossible to see the horse & rider because the rider was wearing a dark green t-shirt & silk on her hat, black jods & boots. The horse was dark bay. They were riding right on the very edge of the road, I'm talking just about an inch away from the edge of the road, right under the trees and in the shade. I had just driven from a very bright sunny part under the trees. It takes your eyes a few seconds to adapt. The ONLY reason I saw this horse when I did was because it has ONE white sock on a back foot and the horse happened to kick out to nothing as I approached it and that caught my eye first.
It is SO EASY to not see a horse & rider. I myself didn't realise just how easy it is to not see them until I just had this happen.
Then, to make it worse, as I went to SAFELY overtake the horse it kicked out again at my car. I was, as it happens, on the other side of the road because I am a good driver when it comes to these things so the horse didn't actually kick my car, but still... OMG, what a disaster that all could have been if it was someone else driving who doesn't look out for horses in that area instead of me. I would not be surprised later on to hear on the news that said girl & her horse had someone run into the back of them. I can not explain how invisible they were!