[waterhouse]

Just saw a group of six riders on the main road.  Brown horses, brown jackets and a heavy overcast.  One had a hi-viz tabard.  The group were from the local big livery yard whose riders have been banned by a number of local landowners for taking the pee too often.

Main road is a 60mph racetrack with a dreadful accident record (4 fatalities in 10 yrs, and innumerable fast crashes).

Round here the public access hacking is thin, and at the very best you have to cross main roads, while the country lanes can be pretty scary too.  I just don't understand why putting on hi-viz isn't second nature.  And what is about young men on horses that exempts them from wearing a hard hat?

We see lots and lots of cyclists because we're next to a regional trail.  They seem to be viz'd up like Xmas trees - perhaps its a fashion thing.

[Brucklay]

I now have a lovely 2nd hand hi-viz jacket (pressie from a friend as she works off shore) and I walk the dog in it every day, we're off a single track road and it's very quite but my thoughts are at least any traffic will have to see me - or run over me before they get to Zip!!

[jinglejoys]

If I ain't wearing Hiviz I'm not handling an equine
I workat a racing yard and I don't think they know the word

[ellisr]

I Hi Viz up and so does Blue with his leg bands and tail flasher and even a riding rug that is hi viz and has lights on itI have wrist and leg bands and even a band that goes round my hat (yes we do look like blackpool illuminations but we are still alive)
Unfortunately Blue can't go out at the moment as we got stuck in some mud last week and I got wet feet and he is now lame after having to pull himself out of very sticky awful stuff

[lachlanandmarcus]

I do very little roadwork but even so I wear my violent pink hi viz jacket every time I ride. After all, if I am dumped by Madam in a ditch, Id quite like the paramedics to find me.

I dont understand why they wouldnt want to wear at least something, but hey! Actually at least a group of horses are a large object ; it is pedestrians walking at night along roads with nothing that really scares me, as you dont even see them.

[ellisr]

And lo behold this morning I nearly hit a horse and rider that galloped onto the road from a drove with no hi viz and no lights at 7am.
Needless to say she got a right mouthful about safety and the welfare of her horse, her answer 'but my horse is big enough to be seen'

[Fowgill Farm]

Hi-Viz should be made compulsory for all none motorised road users, failure to wear it should result in a hefty fine. I am amazed by the numer of riders in my area of both cycles & horses who can hardly be seen in the hours after dawn or evening twilight. Hi-Viz saves lives, how much hospital and insurance money would it save?
Mandy 

[sabrina]

When I did ride I always wore my bright yellow tabbard and my horse had ankle ones as round here going on the road was very risky anyway. As for riding without a hat, it should be a legal requiremeant. Falling off even at the walk can cause brain damage.

[SallyintNorth]

I do wear hi-viz when riding and when stopping traffic if we're moving livestock.

However, I am unhappy at the idea that any and every non-motorised road user should be flourescent and reflective.  Whatever happened to 'driving with due care and attention', and 'as appropriate for the road conditions'?

There seems to be a national mindset that because motorised vehicles pay road tax, they own the road, and any other user is there on sufference and must cow-tow to the great god the Motor Vehicle.

Some of you will remember just why I am particularly sensitive on this topic, but even before the massacre in the summer I had these misgivings about our attitude to road use by other than motors.

[lachlanandmarcus]

I have some sympathy with that view Sally!

Which is why altho I dont understand why some people dont wear hi viz, I wouldnt be in favour of legislation mandating it as that would make vulnerable road users (ie non motorised ones) effectively responsible for stopping speeding drivers from hitting them, rather than drivers being responsible for driving in a safe and slow enough manner to be able to see people/children/animals and to stop if something runs across the road, let alone another road users a lot slower moving in the same direction.

On the hat front, there might be more of a case for legislation altho it is already compulsory for children (I think under 14) to wear one on the roads. Wonder if the adult exemption was a wish not to turn into a nanny state or whether it was more to do with the fact the Queen rides hatless :-))

NB the Highway code already recommends hi viz in gloomy conditions and lights in dark, so altho it's not prescriptive in the  way a 'You Must' clause is, it can already be used as an argument for contributory negligence in the event of an accident. But the vast majority of serious accidents involving horseriders are not because a car didnt see the horse and rider, it's because they were racing and didnt have the patience to wait a minute or two for the rider to reach a safe passing place, added to a total ignorance about the likely reactions of a horse to having a car revving its engine and driving up to within an inch of its hocks.

[ellisr]

I drive the roads at home in the dark at this time of year and they are very winding so you can't do much more than 20mph maximum and it is amazing how many people are out in the dark wearing dark colours and no light. you go around a corner to find them standing (or riding) in the middle of the road and even at slow speeds it does take a moment to make them out. The people that wear hi viz are instantly visable and you can react much quicker as you know what you are looking at.
the girl this morning actually shot out from the drove on to the main road without looking as she came from behind a very high hedge it was utterley reckless

[lachlanandmarcus]

she was crazy! and wont last very long if she carries on not taking any care - natural selection I think they call it!

[sabrina]

Being safe and seen is the important thing. there will always be people who drive too fast and riders not taking care of what they are doing. Even the best horse in the world can take fright. with low sun at this time of year everything is risky.

[ellisr]

Well an update on the crazy girl yesterday, I spotted her this morning with lots of hi viz so she must of had it in the tack room. It made it a lot easier on the dark country roads.

At this time of year days are short and you can get caught out so easily as it goes gloomy because of a storm and with the different light even my solid as a rock horse has found monsters in hedges and bins that are going to bite him and for some reason the other day somebody must have installed an invisible gate as he was not coming out of the field for teatime.

[Bionic]

Well I guess the good news is that yesterdays scare has made her see sense. Lets hope she sticks to vearing the high vix from now on
Sally