What you have told me about how safe you feel on our country lanes…
“Speeding on country lanes is a huge safety problem for everyone and it seems to be getting worse and worse.
I used to walk my children to our village school but had to stop this after someone nearly hit my child’s pram. I’m nearly 50 and have always hacked horses along lanes, but in the last 5 years I’ve had countless near misses all due to drivers speeding and not slowing around blind corners.
I used to carriage drive but no longer consider Kent roads safe enough for this hobby”.
Those are the words of one of the people who took part in my survey about their experiences on our country lanes – and sadly there are many more people with similar experiences.
Earlier this year I was contacted by a constituent who suffered a hit and run from someone driving too fast on a single lane country road while out riding her horse. Thankfully, in this case both horse and rider were OK.
This incident, along with all the other emails I receive about safety on country lanes, prompted me to conduct a survey to find how safe people feel on our lanes.
Nearly 500 people took part in my survey and over 80% told me they feel quite unsafe or so unsafe that they no longer walk, cycle or horse ride on our country lanes.
And it’s not just horse riders who feel unsafe on our roads, another person said:
“I worry walking my 2 dogs as I've had a few near misses in the past on foot. I've also had 4 car accidents on this lane over the years due to the speed of other motorists”.
And another added:
“We have been involved in two head on accidents on the same country lane in a six month period. Both times it was excessive speed of the other driver that caused the accident”.
I would like to thank everyone who took the time to share their experiences with me. I’m using those responses in my work to make our country lanes safer, which includes the following:
- I am pressing the Home Office and Police to include driving safely on country lanes in Speed Awareness Courses as a way of targeting these drivers. According to the British Horse Society (BHS) it is more likely to be experienced drivers involved in incidents than people who passed their driving tests recently, so this is one way of reaching those more experienced drivers.
- When I wrote to Ministers about this earlier this year they talked about the Government’s THINK! Road safety campaign. Worryingly more than half of the people who completed my survey had not heard of it. So, I will be pressing the Government to promote this campaign more.
- I will also be attending the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACT) with the British Horse Society (BHS) in December to see what more I can do to support their work in reducing deaths and accidents on our country lanes.
As our lanes become more dangerous, people who live in villages and in the countryside are bearing the brunt – whether that’s literally being in accidents, or because the danger means missing out on the pleasures and health benefits of getting out and about by foot, on bicycle or horseback.
I’m no fan of traffic calming measures; what I want to see is better, more careful driving in the countryside.
If you think there is anything else I can do please let me know and if you want to be kept up-to-date with what I am doing – sign up to my newsletter by clicking here.
Photo from the British Horse Society Website, available here: Dead Slow | The British Horse Society
