A lack of effective legislation in New Zealand is placing horse riders at serious risk when riding on the roads and equestrian groups want their vulnerability formally recognised.
They’ve been clipped by wing mirrors, overtaken at speed, sworn at and honked at, and they have had enough.
Horse rider, equestrian advocate and former TVNZ journalist Julia McLean, with the backing of the NZ Equestrian Advocacy Network (NZEAN), Equestrian Sport NZ (ESNZ), the NZ Pony Club Association (PCNZA), NZ Riding for the Disabled (NZRDA), and Te Hapori Hōiho – National Māori Horse Association Aotearoa Trust, is leading the charge.
She said the safety of horse riders is being seriously compromised because they are not formally recognised as a vulnerable road user (VRU), like cyclists and pedestrians.
Horse riders are “other road users” with no road safety benefits attached.
“We sit outside inclusion, so when no one’s being educated it’s bloody dangerous out there,” McLean said.
Formal recognition would put horses equal to cyclists in terms of vulnerability and would be similar to definitions included in the European Commission and the United Kingdom highway code.
NZEAN Canterbury chair McLean has experienced an accident.
Riding along the side of the road, her horse bolted and slipped on the tarmac. McLean fell off and her head hit the road.
She doesn’t know what triggered her horse to bolt, but ultimately the message is the same: riders are managing an animal, and anything can happen.
“At the end of the day, we’re appealing for people to just slow down and give us space.”
The incident left her in an induced coma for six days. It also brought her career as a broadcast journalist to an abrupt halt.
McLean has been talking to councils and transport committee meetings across the country, talking with trucking associations, and writing to NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and Minister of Transport Simeon Brown.
“This is about lives. This isn’t a political football.
“There is no definition in the NZ Transport Agency literature to define a VRU and as a result, horse riders are more than often a forgotten group in safety and transport planning,” McLean said.
“Horse riders are considered as ‘other road user’ and the lack of clarity, detail and meaningful safety initiatives that comes with that label puts horse riders in an extremely vulnerable position on NZ roads.”
Equestrians are asking for a mindset change whereby the law reflects riders’ vulnerability and the safety messaging is explicit.
The Ministry of Transport’s Road to Zero Road Safety Strategy fails to mention horse riders, which McLean said is why road safety messaging for horse riders at a local or national level rarely exists.
Kiwi horse riders have launched a petition to have horse riders formally recognised as VRUs.
The petition also seeks to address legislation the network sees as ineffective, asking for the Land Transport Act to be amended to include safe provision for horse riders.
It also calls for an inquiry into road user behaviour towards VRUs.
McLean has been heartened by the positive response from local councils, but said that “a commitment from central government is key to pulling this together and making riders safer on our roads”.
“A top-down approach is required to wrap safety measures around horse riders within the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004. They do it for cyclists, we only want the same protections that they have.”
The NZEAN has designed yellow and pink hi-viz vests carrying the Pass Wide and Slow messaging.
“We appreciate we as horse riders need to be doing our bit to be visible and we have a role in educating road users. The Pass Wide and Slow message is our campaign for improved status.”
Transporting NZ, the National Road Carriers Association and the NZ Trucking Association have all agreed to support and share the Pass Wide and Slow message to their driver networks, via newsletters, monthly magazines and social media platforms.
“We are extremely grateful for the trucking sector’s response and other businesses such as Hazlett Rural/Transport, Ryal Bush Transport and Protranz Earthmoving who are partnering with us.
“We are particularly thankful to Gerard Daldry from Protranz for sponsoring our first run of hi-viz vests.”
The Pass Wide and Slow campaign went live online and social channels on August 25.
As part of the campaign, NZ horse riders are taking part in registered rides across the country in a Pass Wide and Slow event over the weekend September 14 and 15.
“We are going to make change, behavioural driving change and legislative change too,” McLean said.
The petition closes on October 14 and will be presented to Parliament on October 15.
