A short and sweet descent of the North Downs into Halliloo Valley, Woldingham. The route goes from Greenhill Shaw to Slines Oak Road. I filmed this yesterday afternoon. According to the GPS data my maximum speed during the video was 44.3 kph (27.5 mph).  Later in the afternoon I clocked 71 kph (44 mph) but that was on a road.

The other day my local neighbourhood policing team tweeted:

Mobile front counter in #Oxted is busy today. Reports of:ASBSpeedingParkingHorses on roadsAnd local officer contact. #PCSO14277

— Tandridge Police (@TandridgeBeat) May 9, 2013

While the majority of motorists slow down when they see a horse (a startled horse can do a lot of damage); some motorists have entitlement issues, believing horses shouldn’t be on the public highway. To such motorists, the only modes of transport that should be allowed on roads are those equipped with motors. Cyclists, horse riders, and pedestrians have no right to be on the road, say they. The belief is that only motorists pay for roads so only motorists are entitled to use roads. This is a commonly held, but mistaken, belief. Motorists don’t pay for roads directly and, even if they did, vehicle excise duty and fuel taxes wouldn’t be enough to pay for all the externalities that mass motoring brings in its wake.

Some motorists believe that ‘road tax’ pays for roads. As cyclists and horses don’t pay ‘road tax’, they have lesser rights to use roads, or no rights at all. This is not an accusation plucked out of thin air. Motoring forums are chock full of Clarkson-clones, happy to advertise their prejudices against “freeloaders”. Similarly, on Twitter, you don’t have to search too hard to find motorists with entitlement issues.

The article goes on to give some examples. 

Later, when asked to clarify what the complaint concerning the horses was the local police team stated:

@stigpig an issue was raised around riders riding two abreast on roads causing tail backs.

— Tandridge Police (@TandridgeBeat) May 9, 2013

Now in my humble view this sounds like an ignorant complaint.  The horses are entitled to use the public highway as much as any other road user.  Furthermore, it is almost certain that the horse riders would halt and allow the cars to pass as soon as it was safe for them to do so.  The fact that they were riding two abreast is probably because even if they were in single file during that stretch of the road it would not have been safe for the cars to overtake them. 

Section 53 of the Highway Code, states:

Before riding off or turning, look behind you to make sure it is safe, then give a clear arm signal.

When riding on the road you should:

• keep to the left
• keep both hands on the reins unless you are signalling
• keep both feet in the stirrups
• not carry another person
• not carry anything which might affect your balance or get tangled up with the reins
• keep a horse you are leading to your left
• move in the direction of the traffic flow in a one-way street
• never ride more than two abreast, and ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends

Horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles. Be particularly careful of horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles especially when overtaking. Always pass wide and slowly. Horse riders are often children, so take extra care and remember riders may ride in double file when escorting a young or inexperienced horse or rider. Look out for horse riders’ and horse drivers’ signals and heed a request to slow down or stop. Take great care and treat all horses as a potential hazard.

Clearly one needs to read both of these sections together, and consider the other sections where motorists are urged to recognise and respect the needs of vulnerable road users (“road users requiring extra care”), such as pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists, animals, horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles, older drivers, learners and inexperienced drivers, powered vehicles used by disabled people, and the sections which emphasise the need to respect home zones where children play and community events occur.

I realise that I am making general points in response to a specific incident, which I don’t know the details of. I am trying to address the general prejudice that exists (against non-vehicular traffic) even if this particular complaint wasn’t borne of ignorance. I am stressing that less vulnerable road users need to respect and give way to vulnerable road users, and that life would be more enjoyable for everyone if we could all be a little patient, slow down, and share the road. 

The key principle at stake in most areas where different types of road users come into conflict is covered in the Introduction to Section 103 to 158 of the Highway Code:

The rules in The Highway Code do not give you the right of way in any circumstance, but they advise you when you should give way to others. Always give way if it can help to avoid an incident.

In the video above I demonstrate how, when cycling, I stop for horses and move aside, waiting for them to pass.  I follow the exact same principle when driving a car, since the horse riders are more vulnerable than me. My suggestion to other motorists is that those horses (or cyclists, pedestrians, children, etc) will slow you down for only a few minutes. Enjoy those minutes, and the calm, before you rush on to join the back of the next traffic jam.  And to put that delay in perspective: most traffic jams are actually caused by other motor vehicles, not horses!

Seen in Woldingham yesterday. It is the first time that I have seen one of these in real life and I have to remark that it appears much higher than you would think just looking at videos or photographs of them. The driver who overtook me in the video needs some educating, because I suspect he underestimated the speed of the approaching bicycle.

We stopped at this point on the cycle ride from Bath to Bristol, reckoning that it was about half-way on our ride. Of course it wasn’t exactly half-way between Bristol and Bath, and nor was it half way on our ride since we rode the path in both directions.  In any case the half-way point between the cities will vary depending on where you are starting from and where you are going to, assuming that you start and end beyond the range of the path).

It always seems to be other peoples’ children by the way.

It turned out that the man cycling in this video is Oliver Lindberg, editor of Dot Net Magazine - someone who commented on the YouTube video recognised him.

On this site stood the Bush, a celebrated
coaching inn. Edmund Burke M.P. used it as
his election campaign headquarters.
In Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens had
Mr Winkle stay there. The inn later became
Bush Chambers where Bristol & West Building
Society was founded in 1850.

The present building was erected in 1857
by The West of England and South Wales
District Bank. The Architects W.B. Gingell
and T.R.Lysaght, based its High Rennaissance
style on Jacopo Sansovino’s Library of
St Mark, Venice. It has been occupied by Llyods
Bank Limited since 1892 and the exterior
remains substantially in its original form.

This plaque was unveiled by
Andrew Breach, C.B.E. Chairman
Bristol & West Bilding Society
22nd October 1981

Me buckos ‘n I saw signs on Sunday that band ‘o pirates have moved into Bath, ‘n be livin’ on boats along th’ canal.