Horses on the Roads
With fewer places to ride, and increasing fuel prices you can expect to see more riders returning to riding on the roads. For many, driving on roads with horses may be a new experience.
The most important rule is to slow down and give horses room (as you should for cyclists and pedestrians on the road).
SLOW means 50kph, and prepare to stop if the horse is unsettled.
You can be charged with dangerous driving if you do not behave appropriately around horses on the roads.
About Riders
The rider you meet may be a pensioner on a tight budget, a farm worker, a working mum, a schoolchild, a banker or executive, or a professional rider.
Horse riders and owners come from a wide variety of backgrounds, age groups, and experience. In New Zealand the costs of keeping a horse are similar to many other sports or hobbies.
Transporting a horse from one place to another shouldn't require loading it into a vehicle; the horse is quite capable of travelling many kilometres under its own steam.
Removing large horse vehicles from the roads is both more sustainable, and reduces maintenance and congestion on the roads.
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About Roads
Roads have existed for thousands of years, and are for people to get from place to place. Pedestrians, horses, and cycles are all legal road users.
Motorised vehicles are relative newcomers; and the road rules that apply to them are often based on keeping other road users safe from them. The motor vehicle does not have any special right to be on the road, nor does it's driver In fact the reason that you must license and register your vehicle, is because there is no automatic right to have a vehicle on the road.. The only roads specifically designed and allocated to motorised vehicles are motorways.
LTSA Legal While the common law courts developed detailed rules about the rights of people on foot, riding animals or driving animal-drawn vehicles to use roads, they never had to deal with motor vehicles. In a 1981 case ( Brader v Ministry of Transport [1981] 1 NZLR 73 at 78, 84), the New Zealand Court of Appeal rejected a claim that the law gave individuals an absolute right to use motor vehicles, stating that the 'liberty to drive' is not a natural right and that even the provisions in the legislation imposed restrictions and obligations, rather than granting rights. The court commented further in 1994 (R v Jefferies [1994] 1 NZLR 290, at 296) that there is no traditional approach of the common law to motor vehicles. |
Ċ ď Vivien Dostine, Mar 15, 2010, 4:57 PM Ċ ď Vivien Dostine, Mar 15, 2010, 4:16 PM Ċ ď Vivien Dostine, Mar 15, 2010, 4:15 PM Ċ ď Vivien Dostine, Mar 15, 2010, 4:15 PM Ċ ď Vivien Dostine, Aug 17, 2008, 8:31 PM Ċ ď Vivien Dostine, Jul 8, 2009, 9:44 PM
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Horse Sense on the Roads has been created by the NZ Horse Recreation Inc to raise awareness of road safety for horse riders, and educate all users about safe road sharing.