Yorkshire horserider posts videos of worrying 'near misses' with traffic

Devon Storey, 30, from Everthorpe, says her choices of where she can take her 12-year-old horse Prince are limited and the lack of bridleways means she has to stick to local roads.

But in the past year she’s become concerned and frustrated by roadusers passing unsafely. Previously she had stopped riding 12-year-old Prince because of the number of close calls, but after he went lame, she was told he needed regular hacks as part of his rehabilitation.

Devon said: “I find it frustrating that for his health and wellbeing I’m having to ride him out and feel I am putting him in an unsafe situation.”

She said posting videos on local community pages had yielded a positive response, adding: “I found many didn’t realise drivers practiced such dangerous driving when passing horses and it turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to not only obtain support from locals but also educate some who had questions.”

She says she’s lucky Prince isn’t nervous in traffic, but if a younger horse or rider was involved it could be a different story.

She says the recently updated Highway Code - motorists must allow at least 2m of space and are advised to drive under 10mph when passing horses - has helped to a degree.

She said she understood drivers may feel frustrated but it wasn’t an excuse to put their safety at risk, She said: “If you can’t consider our safety consider your own and that of the passenger.

“My horse weighs half a tonne and if he lands on your bonnet he will do some damage. I’d ride him somewhere else if I had a chance but it’s just so limited I don’t have options.”

Horses, alongside pedestrians and cyclists, are considered vulnerable in the hierarchy of road users in the updated Highway Code.

The advisory speed for passing horses has been cut from 15mph to 10mph.

The British Horse Society described the changes as a "significant" step forward for equestrian road safety.