“Pass Wide And Slow” for horse, rider road safety

A group of Martinborough horse riders will join a world-wide day of action mid-month, riding the streets to support a call for road safety awareness for both riders and their mounts.

“Pass Wide And Slow” (PWAS) by late August had more than 240 riders taking part in seven countries, from Britain and Ireland to South Africa and New Zealand, to ride for road safety. 

Ten Martinborough horse-and-rider teams are among the 38 signed on to take part country-wide, where the New Zealand Transport Agency (Waka Kotahi) has confirmed no safety rules or  regulations are in place to safeguard horses being ridden on streets and roads.

Local organiser Anastasia Walsh said she and her colleaguees are constantly confronted by vehicles _ cars, vans, trucks _ showing no awareness of their impact on road-trekking horses and riders.

The group is circulating a petition to present to Parlament, seeking regulations to safeguard the  passage “of vulnerable road-users along roads and streets and amend the Land Transport Act to provide safety provision for horse riders and to help educate the road-using public.

“Currently there is nothing,” she said.

By late August the petition had attracted more than 2,600 signatories _ mainly members of NZ Pony Club Association, NZ Riding for Disabled, Equestrian Sports NZ, Te Hapori Hoiho and other horse lovers. The group hopes to present the petition in October.

“Horses and riders aren’t safe on the roads. People aren’t aware of what they need to do as they approach somebody with a horse _ riding a horse or walking a horse on the road _ and there are so many accidents that happen, where people have lost their lives, horses have lost their lives,” because of the lack of general safety awareness.

The road rules cover dogs and their walkers, but “we can’t ride on the roads because it’s not safe,” she said. Even parking a float on the roadside to unload, mount up and ride is unsafe.

“So we’re getting a group of people together so the public know this is happening and that controls are needed to keep us safe on the road.”

As recently as August 25 in Greytown a van “did not slow down” for two horse-and-rider teams  _ “so we had to put our arms out for it to slow as it passed – which is not nice,” Walsh said.

The lack of regulatory provisions had led to inconsistencies in the treatment of vulnerable road users.

Walsh said the European Union has a specific “vulnerable road user” category which covers a range of activities by “any non-motorised road user.”

What: Pass Wide And Slow.

When: 14 September.

Where: Shooting Butts Road to Martinborough Square.