Current Horse Safety Campaigns
New Zealand
Horse Sense on the Roads NZ
https://sites.google.com/nzhorseriders.info/roadsafety/motorists?authuser=0
https://www.change.org/p/simon-bridges-mp-road-safety-must-include-horse-riders-include-horse-riders-in-safer-journeys
This is the only 'campaign' about educating drivers (and other road users) about horse riders on the road that I can find from New Zealand. It appears to be just a website that has information for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians about what behaviour can frighten horses and therefore how to behaviour around them when meeting a horse and rider on a road or trail. I like the angle that they have taken in that they are explaining horse behaviour (they are flight animals and therefore can be very 'spooky') and how different things that we might think are ok can appear from a horses' point of view. I like this because it's not just telling people that they are bad and this, this and this is what they have to do to be good, it's actually explaining how/why this behaviour can be harmful and ways they can try and be more considerate to horse riders. It's tapping into people's morals and gently prodding them to change their behaviour in a way that makes it seem as though it is their decision to make changes. This website also has a tab labeled 'Resources', but this page doesn't have any campaign advertising material - just informative leaflets containing the information from the website which (I think) is intended for councils to print. A big part of this 'campaign' is a petition that (if it gets enough signatures) will be delivered to the Minister of Transport. This petition aims to change current Road Legislation to make roads safer for horse riders, including; setting a specific legal speed for passing horses and making injuring or killing a ridden or driven horse an offence. I think this petition is a really good idea but I am involved in lots of horse riding communities and I had never heard of it before so it clearly isn't getting very much exposure.
The 'Motorist' page has some really great content:
"Vehicles dent; Horses and People die
As a motorist the road code requires that you MUST:
Slow down means SLOW. Many horses may need you to slow right down to 20 or 30kph, OR STOP.
Always give at least 1.5 metres room.
SLOW DOWN - pass wide - Always be prepared to stop.
Watch out for horse riders' signals and heed any request to slow down or stop.
Know the hand signals for slow down (shown right), and stop. These are the same hand signals are used by police, and road maintenance crews, all drivers should know them.
Horse riders are often youngsters. Please take extra care, they do not have your perception of danger, or experience on the road. Riders are allowed to ride in double file when escorting a young or inexperienced horse or rider.
Motorcycles need to be aware that the noise of their engines may be particularly frightening to a horse. Wait until the horse is a safe distance away before speeding up again, particularly if this will cause a great increase in engine noise.
Treat all horses as a potential hazard and expect the unexpected! Even experienced, well trained and calm horses can be scared or react instinctively to unexpected noises or sights."
UK
The British Horse Society - Dead Slow
https://www.facebook.com/TheBritishHorseSociety/videos/10154059368193343/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/road-safety-campaign-reach-millions-drivers-532513
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/chilling-video-help-save-lives-605296
This is an advertising campaign from The British Horse Society who, after compiling statistics from horse riders around Britain on road riding accidents, are calling for drivers to slow to 15mph when passing horse riders to keep everybody safe. The BHS is an organisation that is not run by the government, and therefore received no government funding for this campaign. I particularly like the campaign stickers on the handles of petrol pumps as I think this is a great example of conveying the message in a very appropriate time and place. The video does contain good information but in my opinion it drags on a little long and the footage isn't that compelling. Also, where would this video be shown? It seems it's main platform is Facebook but I don't think it's the sort of video that would go viral so I'm not sure whether they're considering the medium and whether they're using it in the right context/to it's full potential. Lastly, there has also been a mannequin challenge video (a viral video craze that recently swept the internet) created in support of the BHS's message. This is an interesting idea as they are hoping that by jumping on the bandwagon of a fad they will reach a wider/new audience.
Think!
http://think.direct.gov.uk/horses.html
'Think' seems to be an umbrella campaign that produce road safety education resources for many different road safety aspects such as; cycling, drink driving, drug driving, speed, fatigue, mobile phones etc, but they have a specific section of the website for horses. This is run by the Department for Transport in collaboration with The British Horse Society and provides advice for both motorists and horse riders. They seem to borrow a lot of their material from The British Horse Societies other campaigns.
Horses & Road Safety Awareness
https://www.facebook.com/hrsauk/videos/1273284179348577/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE
http://www.hrsa.org.uk
http://www.hrsa.org.uk/real_life_stories.htm
At first glance this appeared to be a campaign run through a Facebook page with some supporting material including a video that aims to raise awareness about how to react to horse riders on the road. But upon Googling the title of the campaign I found a website that contained information about the campaign, how to join, how to donate, information for both horse riders and drivers/other road users, a shop where you can purchase stickers, signs, and hi-viz clothing items. Although the website and video are quite clunky and not really fantastic user experiences I still applaud the work this group is doing in creating this campaign and trying to generate change. The thing I was most interested in about this campaign was that on their website they have a section called 'Real Life Stories' where the audience can email in their personal story of a dangerous experience on the road. Only five people appear to have ever contributed a story but I still really like the idea.
Horse Sense on the Roads NZ
https://sites.google.com/nzhorseriders.info/roadsafety/motorists?authuser=0
https://www.change.org/p/simon-bridges-mp-road-safety-must-include-horse-riders-include-horse-riders-in-safer-journeys
This is the only 'campaign' about educating drivers (and other road users) about horse riders on the road that I can find from New Zealand. It appears to be just a website that has information for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians about what behaviour can frighten horses and therefore how to behaviour around them when meeting a horse and rider on a road or trail. I like the angle that they have taken in that they are explaining horse behaviour (they are flight animals and therefore can be very 'spooky') and how different things that we might think are ok can appear from a horses' point of view. I like this because it's not just telling people that they are bad and this, this and this is what they have to do to be good, it's actually explaining how/why this behaviour can be harmful and ways they can try and be more considerate to horse riders. It's tapping into people's morals and gently prodding them to change their behaviour in a way that makes it seem as though it is their decision to make changes. This website also has a tab labeled 'Resources', but this page doesn't have any campaign advertising material - just informative leaflets containing the information from the website which (I think) is intended for councils to print. A big part of this 'campaign' is a petition that (if it gets enough signatures) will be delivered to the Minister of Transport. This petition aims to change current Road Legislation to make roads safer for horse riders, including; setting a specific legal speed for passing horses and making injuring or killing a ridden or driven horse an offence. I think this petition is a really good idea but I am involved in lots of horse riding communities and I had never heard of it before so it clearly isn't getting very much exposure.
The 'Motorist' page has some really great content:
"Vehicles dent; Horses and People die
Horse riders are legal road users.
As a motorist the road code requires that you MUST:
- Slow down* and pass carefully - give the horse, and rider plenty of room.
- Don't sound your horn, rev your engine or pass at speed - this could frighten the horse.
- If the horse and rider are on a bridge or narrow road, be very careful – slow down or stop.
- If the horse appears frightened, STOP!
- At night, dip your vehicle's headlights when approaching a horse.
- Two vehicles should avoid passing near a horse.
Slow down means SLOW. Many horses may need you to slow right down to 20 or 30kph, OR STOP.
Always give at least 1.5 metres room.
Did you know that you can be charged with careless or dangerous driving if you are not careful around horses? - NZTA Road Code."
"Tips for safe motoring near horses:
SLOW DOWN - pass wide - Always be prepared to stop.
Watch out for horse riders' signals and heed any request to slow down or stop.
Know the hand signals for slow down (shown right), and stop. These are the same hand signals are used by police, and road maintenance crews, all drivers should know them.
Horse riders are often youngsters. Please take extra care, they do not have your perception of danger, or experience on the road. Riders are allowed to ride in double file when escorting a young or inexperienced horse or rider.
Motorcycles need to be aware that the noise of their engines may be particularly frightening to a horse. Wait until the horse is a safe distance away before speeding up again, particularly if this will cause a great increase in engine noise.
Treat all horses as a potential hazard and expect the unexpected! Even experienced, well trained and calm horses can be scared or react instinctively to unexpected noises or sights."
"For your safety, and the safety of your passengers, please remember:
Vehicles do not have any special rights to the road. In fact motor vehicles have fewer 'rights', that's why a vehicle has to be licensed to use the road but the natural users of roads - people, horses (and later, cycles) do not. Some people argue that vehicles pay 'road tax' and therefore should be the only ones on the roads. This is completely untrue.
There is no such thing as 'road tax' in New Zealand. The roads are paid for partly from general taxation (everyone pays), and partly from Council rates.
Yes, there are many taxes and levies applied to petrol and diesel. This is put into the general taxation pool, and can be spent on hospitals, or schools, or anything else. The amount put into general taxation from these taxes is less than the amount spent on road building, and maintenance for motor vehicles. So taxes collected from other sources (like income tax) are also used to create roads. Road User Charges (RUC) are paid by those with diesel vehicles only. This does get set aside specifically for road maintenance, because it only covers the extra wear and tear caused by large diesel vehicles that pay it.
Walkers, cyclists and horse riders don't need 7.2m wide tar sealed roads, and most walkers, cyclists, and horse riders have vehicles for their day-to-day use and are also paying these fuel levies.
Every walker, runner, cyclist and horse rider contributes to paying for the roads, exactly the same as motorists."
- Horses are large, prey animals. Even the best riders have no way to control a really frightened animal of this size.
- It is in the best interests of you, your vehicle and your passengers to ensure that your behaviour does not frighten a horse on or near a road.
- Never try to push past a horse.
- Any large animal on your vehicle bonnet is likely to kill any passenger(s) in the front seat as it thrashes around. Horses (and other stock) will end up in your windscreen (front seat) if you hit them, because of their height."
"Road Tax
Vehicles do not have any special rights to the road. In fact motor vehicles have fewer 'rights', that's why a vehicle has to be licensed to use the road but the natural users of roads - people, horses (and later, cycles) do not. Some people argue that vehicles pay 'road tax' and therefore should be the only ones on the roads. This is completely untrue.
There is no such thing as 'road tax' in New Zealand. The roads are paid for partly from general taxation (everyone pays), and partly from Council rates.
Yes, there are many taxes and levies applied to petrol and diesel. This is put into the general taxation pool, and can be spent on hospitals, or schools, or anything else. The amount put into general taxation from these taxes is less than the amount spent on road building, and maintenance for motor vehicles. So taxes collected from other sources (like income tax) are also used to create roads. Road User Charges (RUC) are paid by those with diesel vehicles only. This does get set aside specifically for road maintenance, because it only covers the extra wear and tear caused by large diesel vehicles that pay it.
Walkers, cyclists and horse riders don't need 7.2m wide tar sealed roads, and most walkers, cyclists, and horse riders have vehicles for their day-to-day use and are also paying these fuel levies.
Every walker, runner, cyclist and horse rider contributes to paying for the roads, exactly the same as motorists."
UK
The British Horse Society - Dead Slow
https://www.facebook.com/TheBritishHorseSociety/videos/10154059368193343/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/road-safety-campaign-reach-millions-drivers-532513
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/chilling-video-help-save-lives-605296
This is an advertising campaign from The British Horse Society who, after compiling statistics from horse riders around Britain on road riding accidents, are calling for drivers to slow to 15mph when passing horse riders to keep everybody safe. The BHS is an organisation that is not run by the government, and therefore received no government funding for this campaign. I particularly like the campaign stickers on the handles of petrol pumps as I think this is a great example of conveying the message in a very appropriate time and place. The video does contain good information but in my opinion it drags on a little long and the footage isn't that compelling. Also, where would this video be shown? It seems it's main platform is Facebook but I don't think it's the sort of video that would go viral so I'm not sure whether they're considering the medium and whether they're using it in the right context/to it's full potential. Lastly, there has also been a mannequin challenge video (a viral video craze that recently swept the internet) created in support of the BHS's message. This is an interesting idea as they are hoping that by jumping on the bandwagon of a fad they will reach a wider/new audience.
Think!
http://think.direct.gov.uk/horses.html
'Think' seems to be an umbrella campaign that produce road safety education resources for many different road safety aspects such as; cycling, drink driving, drug driving, speed, fatigue, mobile phones etc, but they have a specific section of the website for horses. This is run by the Department for Transport in collaboration with The British Horse Society and provides advice for both motorists and horse riders. They seem to borrow a lot of their material from The British Horse Societies other campaigns.
Horses & Road Safety Awareness
https://www.facebook.com/hrsauk/videos/1273284179348577/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE
http://www.hrsa.org.uk
http://www.hrsa.org.uk/real_life_stories.htm
At first glance this appeared to be a campaign run through a Facebook page with some supporting material including a video that aims to raise awareness about how to react to horse riders on the road. But upon Googling the title of the campaign I found a website that contained information about the campaign, how to join, how to donate, information for both horse riders and drivers/other road users, a shop where you can purchase stickers, signs, and hi-viz clothing items. Although the website and video are quite clunky and not really fantastic user experiences I still applaud the work this group is doing in creating this campaign and trying to generate change. The thing I was most interested in about this campaign was that on their website they have a section called 'Real Life Stories' where the audience can email in their personal story of a dangerous experience on the road. Only five people appear to have ever contributed a story but I still really like the idea.