Riders praise 10mph advisory signs to help horses

Signs telling drivers to pass horses with plenty of distance and no faster than 10mph have been welcomed in two Cambridgeshire villages, after riders campaigned for new road safety markers.

The Dead Slow signs in Witchford and Little Thetford came about following a British Horse Society campaign that encouraged riders to report incidents such as dangerous driving and verbal abuse.

Rider, Charlotte Mitchell, hoped the signs would get motorists to slow down, adding: "It's just frustrating because 10 seconds of someone's life could save mine, or my horse's."

The horse society said it had seen a 116% increase in incidents in Cambridgeshire.

In 2023 it recorded 43 incidents, which shot up to 93 last year including one horse fatality.

The charity has an app, Horse i, that allows riders to report cases directly.

It counted events like verbal abuse that left a rider or handler feeling concerned, or incidents that resulted in a horse reacting in an unsettled way.

Other reported cases concerned the potential to injure, or had injured a rider, handler or horse.

It hoped the data gathered could identify hotspots and improve rider safety.

Ms Mitchell, who is also the chair of Little Thetford Parish Council, played a part in gathering evidence locally, after some riders in the area had negative experiences.

She said: "We can get verbally abused, we have cars sat behind us revving their engines or just shouting in general to hurry up, people tooting their horn or flying past us."

Those who did not pass horses slow and wide "ruined it" for riders who wanted to "hack out on the beautiful countryside and bridleways", she added.

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