More than 80% of riders are nervous about riding on the roads, according to our recent survey.
Road safety survey
Every day on social media we hear stories from riders about road accidents near misses and scares. There are now 34.5 million registered vehicles in the UK and horse riders are often forced to share busy roads with their motorised counterparts.
While groups such as the British Horse Society battle to protect riders’ rights of way and increase bridleway access many riders have no choice but to ride on the roads.
Over the past few years we’ve surveyed more than 1,400 riders to find out their views about road safety.
We’re regular riders
More than half our respondents (51.87%) ride between 2-4 times per week with a further 35.06% riding five or more times per week.
We’re often riding on the roads
A massive 79.75% of our respondents claim to ride on the roads at least once per week. Of these nearly 23% are riding on the roads most days.
We’re starting to change our habits
One in every two respondents claim to have reduced the amount of riding they’ve done on the road in recent years.
Riding on the road makes us nervous
Around 81% of you said that riding on the roads made you nervous. Of these 61.12% said they were ‘a little nervous’ 16.97% said they were very nervous while 2.97% admitted to being ‘terrified’.
The other 18.95% who answered the question said they were not at all nervous – they must have very quiet roads round where they live or nerves of steel.
Speed was the most commonly cited reason for causing riders concern while vehicles passing too closely was another.
Other reasons included a general ignorance about horses a lack of awareness when driving on bendy roads aggressive drivers overtaking at dangerous points big vehicles such as trucks or tractors and road users who do not know what to do when a horse becomes unsettled.
A lot of us don’t have much choice but to ride on the road
Around a third of riders surveyed said they had limited off road riding in their area with 7.95% telling us that off-road riding opportunities were ‘non-existent’. A quarter of riders said they had good off-road riding while 14.79% said their off-road hacking was ‘excellent’. We want to move to where they live!
‘Riders don’t belong on the road’
All of us have heard this statement at least once. Fact is a whopping 74.52% of riders surveyed said they would avoid riding on the roads if they had better off-road hacking.
Danger ahead
Just under 14% of you said that you had been involved in some sort of accident while riding on the road whether major or minor. A further 59.46% claim to have had experienced at least one ‘near miss’.
Of those who had been in some sort of incident just over 50% reported it to the police while the other half did not.
Shouting match
In our survey we also asked if you’d ever been threatened or abused by other road users. More than 71% said you had.
Be safe be seen
The message about wearing high-vis clothing seems to be getting through with 83.70% of you saying you always wore such attire while hacking on the road. A further 14.07% said they ‘sometimes’ wore high-viz while 2.23% of those surveyed said they never bother.
Say thank you
Most of those surveyed are careful to thank considerate drivers. Nearly 78% said they always acknowledged safe drivers while 21.33% said they try to thank other road users when it’s safe to do so.