INCIDENTS between horses and vehicles rose in the Vale of Glamorgan year on year, as the British Horse Society revealed an average of six incidents happened every week in Wales and the Channel Islands in 2022.

Overall, a total of 289 equine related road incidents and three horse fatalities were logged in Wales and the Channel Islands via The British Horse Society’s (BHS) ‘Horse i’ app last year; this equates to six incidents a week.

Incidents in the Vale involving horses and cars on the roads went up from seven in 2021 to 11 in 2022.

Across Wales, Carmarthenshire was the most affected area with 63 incidents logged. The second most affected area was Powys with 30, followed by Ceredigion with 22.

In the UK, the equine charity received details of over 3,550 equine related road incidents in 2022, which is a huge 21 per cent increase on the number reported in 2021.

New Highway Code guidelines include setting the advisory speed for passing people riding horses or driving horse-drawn vehicles at 10mph, and advising drivers to allow at least two metres of space.

Another key change was the new Hierarchy of Road Users, with horse riders now, alongside pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, recognised as road users most likely to be injured in the event of a collision.

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The BHS said while the new Highway Code guidance is an essential step in the right direction to protect horses and riders, it was disappointed to see that not enough was being done to reinforce the behavioural messages and to make the public aware of the urgent importance of driving carefully around horses.

“Horses are still being killed and injured on our roads, riders continue to be seriously injured and too many drivers underestimate the importance of driving carefully around horses,” said Alan Hiscox, director of safety at the BHS.  

“This is detrimental to the safety of equestrians. You only have to look at the 68 horses who were tragically killed across the UK in 2022.”