Drivers who passed horses dangerously have been shown the error of their ways thanks to a joint emergency services operation and the British Horse Society (BHS).
The Leicestershire Police Leicestershire and Rutland rural policing team and Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) carried out a close pass operation in the Melton district on 25 September.
This involved one of the police force’s mounted volunteers riding on the road, with a police cyclist in the vicinity. All drivers who passed dangerously were “given the opportunity” to take a seat in LFRS’s Hazard Express van, to experience the virtual reality of the situation they had put the horse and rider in.
PC Kelly Tones of the rural policing team told H&H the aim of these operations, which are now in their third year, is not to prosecute, but to educate.
“I’d say 98% of people we stop say ‘This is incredible’,” she said. “We give the option; jump in the van to watch this video, or we’ve got camera footage so if you want to go to court, let’s go’!”
PC Tones explained that the Hazard Express van, the “virtual insanity experience”, uses headsets and moving seats to allow people virtually to experience the consequences of driving badly. It also uses a BHS video to put the driver in the saddle of a horse who has been passed dangerously on the road.
“It puts you on the horse, shows you cars coming past too close and fast and the horse spooks, rears and spins,” she said. “The chair moves, so it’s perfect to educate people on dangerous passing.
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“Most people say it’s amazing, they had no idea, they thought they’d slowed down enough – and that they’re going to tell all their mates. It’s incredible.”
Passengers were also encouraged to try the virtual reality experience, spreading the word further.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
PC Tones said there are of course some drivers who react less positively.
“There are some whose employers I’ve had to phone,” she said. “Some argue with us; ‘I nearly went in the ditch, I went so wide’, but it was their speed that was the issue, that’s why they nearly went in the ditch. Some say ‘My wife has horses so I know how to pass them safely’ – but we don’t stop the ones who are only very slightly too close or too fast; the ones we stop are the dangerous ones.
“One man was a lorry driver for a big company; he blamed the lorry coming the other way but he was the one on the wrong side of the road, he just couldn’t grasp it. I’ve got horses too and this is what we’re up against. But this video and the virtual reality are brilliant.”
PC Tones said the video itself has a wider effect as the word is spread, and that a previous social media post on such an operation was seen by 436,000 people.
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
