Comments on: Man (with motor) v horse v bike

By: Jamie

Jamie — Sat, 19 May 2012 20:23:00 +0000

As a rider myself I always find that its the middle aged drivers that tend to be the worst. Bikers tend to be the most courteous. maybe that’s because it’s in their interests not to spook a horse, after all a horse will knock a biker flying if they come too close and spook the horse, but even bikers coming in the opposite direction are courteous, pulling in the clutch to past so as not to cause too much noise. Once I had a car pass me so close that my stirrups were pretty much scraping the top of the door. I banged on the roof to try and tell the driver they were too close. The slammed on their brakes and got out shouting their head off trying to push against my horse, she thought she had given me enough room because she “didn’t hit me”, she soon backed off after my horse started to rear at her landing close to her feet.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:29:00 +0000

BTW if you ride a recumbent and you’ve never encountered a horse while on it, be very careful! I either stop or stop and dismount. My recumbent really terrifies horses to the point of being close to uncontrollable or starting to rear-up. It really is ‘whites of the eyes’ stuff. On my ordinary DF bikes, I’ve never noticed a problem, but the recumbent: it’s like chalk and cheese.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:20:00 +0000

I suspect drivers give more room to horses than cyclists on the whole.u00a0 And it is probably because horses might react badly, and because many motorists care more about horses than about cyclists.u00a0 We become “other” when we are on our bikes.nnI bet most drivers don’t think about horses as a mode of transport even when they are being ridden on the road.u00a0 And hence they probably don’t think that they ought to “pay road tax”;u00a0 using horse riders’ non payment of VED u00a0as an example of some drivers’ inane views is probably even more effective than using cyclists.

By: DocklandWanderer

DocklandWanderer — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:52:00 +0000

I have seen a horse owner actually complain that cyclists don’t pay any road tax… oh the irony.nnGranted, this horse rider drives around in a chelsea tractor and pays u00a3400 a year in VED…

By: Andrew26

Andrew26 — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:35:00 +0000

On my daily cycling commute i am regularly given 0 space when overtaken by car drivers and have aggresive and intimidating behaviour directed at me so can only imagine with horror what the same behaviour must be like for someone who is riding a horse as my bike doesn’t become nervous or startled. There needs to be extra education for drivers and amendment of the highway code to make it quite clear of the consequences of their actions and how about confiscation of offenders vehicles and licences if caught misbehaving ?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:11:00 +0000

In my experience, horse-riders seem to be the most civilised of road users. Each and every one I have encountered has been friendly, polite and courteous. I have never met one who was rude, or even ever so slightly impolite. nI am a cyclist, pedestrian and occasionally a driver. I have met rude pedestrians, cyclists and motorists. But by far the worst group for rudeness are the motorists. Of course there are nice, considerate motorists, but I must admit that when I encounter a really nice one, I can’t help suspecting that they ride a bicycle a lot.nnThe worst ones – the ones that have thrown things, bully, shout cut me up, spit and so-on are just utter scum. I imagine that they’re the ones that are so ignorant that they think the road-tax jibe is clever.