HGV drivers from across the country were judged on their safe passing of a horse and rider as part of a competition seen as a significant step towards equestrians’ road safety.
XPO Logistics, in partnership with Saint-Gobain UK and Ireland, held the driver of the year showdown on 28 September in Leicestershire, where 16 finalist drivers took part in a variety of challenges to determine the overall winner. This included a session on vulnerable road users in which the drivers had to pass a walker, a cyclist and horse and rider Ted and Sam Hilton Jones, one of Leicestershire Police’s mounted volunteer combinations. They had to overtake the horse, and also pass him in the opposite direction.
Regional quality, health, safety and environment manager Emma Barker, who organised the challenge, suggested the inclusion of the horse.
“As a horse rider and a safety professional, I am passionate about road safety and in particular safe driving around horses,” she told H&H. “The majority of vulnerable road user training provided to professional drivers is aimed towards cyclists and I felt this event was a great opportunity to highlight the challenges faced by horse riders on the road and to discuss these directly with the drivers. It’s great to be working for a company that recognises the importance of this and wants to educate its drivers on driving safely around horses.”
Alan Davison, who won the driver of the year title, said the horse was “a brilliant addition”.
“It’s not something you come across in training or everyday operations, it made you think about how the horse could react to a HGV putting the rider and other road users at risk,” he said.
Operational trainer Adrian Balcombe judged the challenge, which he told H&H was a privilege.
“What a hugely positive response this event received from the drivers,” he said. “All 16 had nothing but positive comments both about the beautiful well-natured horse and Sam the rider. The drivers were very vocal about how educational the event was and the fact that too much hesitancy around horses can also be an issue as well as inconsiderate driving. This gave them plenty to consider; all comments were extremely positive.
“This is the first time I have seen this type of event at a driver of the year competition, and I hope we can expand on this. As a professional driver trainer this for me is exactly the kind of real-world training we should be aiming to give drivers of large vehicles especially, on a regular basis to ensure that we can all share the roads in safety.”
British Horse Society director of safety Alan Hiscox told H&H Emma had asked if the BHS would like to be involved.
“Of course I said yes, most certainly!” he said. “I think it’s quite significant a company with as many drivers as them involved a real horse as opposed to a model, and they wanted the drivers to follow the Highway Code guidance. How better to get the message out to all those drivers than make it a competition? The examiner knew the guidance back to front, which is great.”
Mr Hiscox said the event made him wonder how other transport companies could take the idea forward.
“The company has asked me to provide information for its driver training sessions, too,” he said. “Equestrians aren’t forgotten; there are people working on the safety of them and their horses. I can’t speak highly enough of Emma and the organisers; thank you to them for taking it forward, and to Leicestershire Police, Sam and Ted.”
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