Fluro gear...

tasha said:
My annoyance is with drivers lecturing me about it - its none of their business about my personal choice.
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Oh yes indeed it IS their business.

They - like you - are using the Queen's Highway. As we have to share it, our personal choices inevitably affect those we share with, and thus we owe it to them to make the RESPONSIBLE choice.

If a car driver is exercising their personal choice to drive in a way that heightens the risk for other road users, especially vulnerable ones, would you lecture them about it, if the opportunity arose? I know that I would - and I have done! Most of them have at least had the grace to not tell me to eff off!

The drivers who spoke to you were trying to help. They are aware that not all drivers are observant and considerate, and wanted to advise you so that you could reduce your risk of, as another poster says so vividly, your ending up on a slab.

Can I point out what a driver sees is often vastly different to what a rider sees. Daylight conditions at this time of year are very unreliable indeed. Although YOU may be able to clearly see THEM, that does not mean that THEY can see YOU so clearly.

Mature-minded people are considerate of those around them. There are enough immature, inconsiderate people on the roads already - do you have to add to their numbers with the attitude you carry? - and do you have to reinforce the observation by many other road users that the most inconsiderate users of all are horse riders?
 
PS
If cost is a problem, my daughter's local pound shop has reflective fluorescent waistcoats at ONE POUND EACH. They are large enough to fit almost anyone, over any jacket.

So cost is NOT a consideration. If you cannot find them locally my daughter is willing to buy and post them to you in exchange for one pound and a large SAE.
 
tasha said:
Wish I hadnt bothered now. YES I SHOULD BE WEARING HI VIZ. I am actually starting to borrow some, so no comments needed there. My annoyance is with drivers lecturing me about it - its none of their business about my personal choice. Maybe if they almost hit me due to no other factor than I wasnt wearing hi viz they may be able to mention it. But 9 times out 10 a close shave will be due to them speeding/being inattentive or similar.
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It is unfortunate but horse riders and drivers have to share the roads, i understand it is your choice and perhaps you feel they shouldnt lecture you but how often would you or all of us if given the opportunity like to stop a driver who doesnt slow down or pass wide and give them a lecture on how to pass horses....

I also agree that they are perhaps trying to tell you something, its easy to say it wasnt sunny and perfectly clear day but there are all sorts of road hazards that make horses and riders unoticable such as dips / hills/ hedgerows etc sun doesnt have to be shining to cause poor visibility from behind a car windscreen...

The difference Hi Vis makes in regards to drivers reaction times matters a great deal when it comes to you and your horses own safety!! better to be safe than sorry.
 
tasha said:
My annoyance is with drivers lecturing me about it - its none of their business about my personal choice. Maybe if they almost hit me due to no other factor than I wasnt wearing hi viz they may be able to mention it. But 9 times out 10 a close shave will be due to them speeding/being inattentive or similar.
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9 times out of 10 - how many close shaves have you had :confused:
Has that not taught you anything ?

I'm sure if you drove and nearly hit someone cause you couldnt see them you would be fuming !!
 
Tasha - do you drive (I have no idea how old you are, sorry)? I agree that there is no excuse for the drivers to be rude to you, but I can assure you thast if you come down a road at a normal speed, and come THIS CLOSE to hitting a kid on a pony who pops up out of the shadows, then the adrenaline kicks in and you ARE scared and you ARE angry, and you may not be the essence of politeness.

The fact that the drivers told you to wear hi-viz, instead of the usual "horses shouldn't be on roads" stuff makes me think that these drivers might well have been riders themselves.

Telling the drivers to eff off doesn't make you look big or clever, it makes you look like a silly little spoiled brat, i'm afraid, and is counter-productive to the safety of every rider who uses the roads ! Next time the driver might NOT slow down, and some poor beggar will have to put a sheet over a pony or worse, a kid lying dead in the road.
 
I think that it is the same as one driver flashing another to say "Your lights arn't working mate!!" .........perfectly acceptable.

If you wore the hi-vis then they wouldn't be stopping to lecture you!;)

How would you feel if a car couldn't see you until the last minute due to the lack of hi-vis and then swerved to miss you but crashed killing themselves..........it does happen. Or how happy would your family be going to the 'silly girl who couldn't be seen' funeral?

Sorry its sounding harsh but i think you need to take old_womans offer and get yourself at least a tabard
 
I have heard that there are plans to make wearing high viz a legal requirement for horse riders. We have to wear riding hats to protect ourselves on the roads, I think we should also have to wear high viz all year round. Sorry to be a fashion killer but safety comes first in my book, theres the safety of yourself, the horse and other people, including drivers you have to take into account. I'm all for high viz. Glad to hear you have started wearing it now, be safe :)
 
I am stunned at you attitude. People have politely replied to your post pointing out that your actions are not only putting your life at risk (thats upto you - if you want to, go ahead), but are endangering other road users. Drivers have stopped to tell you that they CANNOT SEE YOU CLEARLY ENOUGH. When is it going to sink into your head? Once someone really doesn't see you, hits you and kills themselves? How do you think you may feel if you caused someone to get killed, just before Christmas, maybe a parent with children at home, because you got the HUMP about people warning you?

"9 times out of 10 - how many close shaves have you had? Has that not taught you anything ?"

"Telling the drivers to eff off doesn't make you look big or clever, it makes you look like a silly little spoiled brat, i'm afraid, and is counter-productive to the safety of every rider who uses the roads ! Next time the driver might NOT slow down, and some poor beggar will have to put a sheet over a pony or worse, a kid lying dead in the road."

I think you really need to listen to what these people are telling you, and stop being such a danger to other road users.
 
What colour is your horse? It's all very well you wearing a white jacket, but if your horse is dark it blends into the colour of the road, the walls, the bushes...

Would your horse put hi viz gear on if it could, I wonder?

Another thing - for anyone who rides in the countryside and doesn't encounter traffic and doesn't think that they need hi viz gear... my friend had an accident on the moors and the only way the AIR AMBULANCE spotted her was because of her hi viz jacket, which she insisted on wearing even though her husband mocked her and said she looked like something from Alfred MacAlpines...

ETA... maybe you don't care about yourself ending up in hospital and don't give a stuff about a driver ending up in hospital, but have a think what it would be like to be holding your horse's head in your lap while it bleeds to death in the road...
 
Lidl has got free-size velcro-fastening reflective fluorescent orange safety tops at ONE POUND NINETY NINE PENCE.

It would be worth buying a couple of these to keep, in their packets, down at the stables or the field, in case of need. It would also be worth buying a couple to keep in the car in case of breakdown. Frankly, at that sort of price - if you have a Lidl nearby but not a pound shop - it would be foolish NOT to have a couple spare.
 
Hands up I go out without reflective equipment on and I couldnt argue with a driver who suggested I was endangering, myself the horse and the driver as well as any passengers by not making myself visable in plenty of time. I would be arrested if I didnt put my car lights on to make myself visable to other drivers and road users so why shoud horse riders be treated any differently (very crude example I admit)

There is no excuse for someone to be rude, but the drivers have a valid point in speaking to you about it.

I poped into Tesco and bought Hi-Viz kit for £5.00. Works a treat and is still cheap.
 
Grunt futtock
You said every thing that i was thinking,
Good Reply
MM

I have the most ridiculous hat cover ever,,,, every one at the yard was laughing,,, even my OH curled up in stiches, it really is GROSS,,, but hell i still wear it.... is the most visible part of me,,, Mills is only small and very very dark,,,
wish i could work out photo bucket,, would take piccy of it,,, must be THE worst ever,,,but it is VISIBLE
:eek::eek:
 
It had a tail band (hi-viz), rein hi-viz, rider tabard and a hat strip.

They were selling them off in my local Tesco a couple of months ago. May still be able to ge them. Used to see them on the website but havent seen them on there for a while.

Jen
x
 
In addition to the hi viz clothing we wear, I have made a hi viz schooling whip, I've wrapped fluorescent tape stripes around it and it sticks right out into the road... remember those flag things that used to stick out of the side of a bike? Same principle, it seems to make the drivers give us a wider berth...
 
ha will take pic,,,, have to be thursday now,,,,, can i e mail it to somebody, that knows how to do the photo bucket thingy,,,,
beleive me if i can wear this on my head,,,, any body can wear hi vis,,,, he he
MM
:eek::eek:
 
tasha said:
My annoyance is with drivers lecturing me about it - its none of their business about my personal choice.
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Jeanie picked her 2 small children up from nursery and began to drive the 2 miles home. Suddenly two horses leapt in front of her car, one with a rider and one being lead. She didn't see them coming, no hi viz, the grey pony that crashed onto her bonnet, went through her windscreen, blended in with the colour of the road. She breaked sharply, her children in the back screamed as she was covered in glass from the windscreen and the beautiful connemara pony was no longer grey but red. No one was hurt but the horses lay dying in the road as they waited for the vet to get there, ambulance men tried to give pain relief to the horses, knowing nothing about horses but desperate to help. Vet arrived from 12 miles away and immediately ended the horses' suffering. Jeanie's children witnessed this, the car written off, their mother in shock as she waited for her husband to arrive.
This happened outside my yard, the horses were much loved and owners were devastated.
Not anyones personal choice. Wear Hi Viz.
 
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