Says Maureen Comber

Thank you Horseytalk for alerting us to watch the very moving story of Huckleberry last Sunday on Countryfile I would though, just like to say what a missed opportunity it was when the RSPCA officer made comment about loose horses on roads and how car drivers are injured by them, as if it was a frequent event or they were not driving too fast to stop anyway.

It would have been so much more relevant if she had revealed how many horses and riders are getting killed and injured by motorists on the country lanes; additionally how many of us now feel too insecure to ride out and are thus deprived of our right to use the highway on horseback. This has undoubtedly led to the loss of much enjoyment, especially in the countryside where once we could expect to see and give way to people on horseback and other vulnerable road users such as walkers and cyclists. The sad fact is that unless riders use the roads we cannot connect the bridleway network, despite the many years that volunteers have been trying to do just that. It is lamentable that when government alert us to The need for more exercise due to increasing obesity, The need to reduce air pollutants especially the cancer causing benzines produced by motor vehicles The need to preserve our countryside The need to maintain a good balance for wildlife and keep them alive instead of squashed to death on our roads The fact that more fatal accidents happen on our country roads than anywhere else that they cannot make the effort to do something positive about it all, such as implementing a universal speed limit of 30 mph on all narrow rural lanes,

by which I mean the ones without a white line in the middle. It is no longer enough to say the geography of the road should dictate the speed limit and of course if that was the case there would be no need for speed limits elsewhere on much wider roads. Enough is enough and it is time to stop discriminating against vulnerable road users of all descriptions by doing nothing to assist their predicament, such as by prioritizing space such as rural lanes, where they could feel relatively relaxed and safe. Doing this would also save billions on the construction of specially constructed cycleways and general road maintenance and accident and emergency admissions.