A HORSE rider has said she is fighting a “losing battle” to keep herself and others safe from speeding drivers around the New Forest.

Ringwood resident Bethany White has been a horse rider since the age of eight and says poor driving around horses and near miss incidents is increasing and believes it's “only a matter of time” until a rider is killed.

Bethany, 26, told the Echo: “I live up by Crow Hill and it is absolutely dreadful. Even people who live in the houses nearby say to me that I’m taking my life in my own hands by riding in the area.

Bournemouth Echo: Bethany's three-year-old nephew Albie thanking oncoming traffic while riding a Shetland pony with grandmother Fiona

“Speeding, revving and passing too close is done by 95 per cent of the vehicles that pass me and it can get rather scary. It’s not just an accident waiting to happen between a car and horse, but I’ve lost count of how many car-on-car incidents I’ve witnessed where people speed pass myself riding and then nearly drive into an oncoming car.

“It’s really difficult, you put arm out to say please slow down and they just don’t, sometimes they just fling their arms up as if to say why are you even on the road?”

Bethany feels the problem stems from a lack of knowledge about how to pass horses and driver perceptions about riders.

She added: “As a driver myself, I know how frustrating it can be when horse riders don’t say thank you or are in the middle of the road, but two wrongs don’t make a right. I think a huge contribution as to why people can be ignorant with us is because of a perception we’re all snooty posh people.

“We’re not wanting to annoy anyone, we’re normal people who just want to protect everyone’s safety – but it’s starting to feel like a losing battle.

Bournemouth Echo: Bethany White training her three-year-old nephew Albie

“I don’t believe it’s all ignorance but a lack of knowledge on how to pass appropriately. It’s mainly for people who point blank ignore us. I look like a disco ball when I’m out riding with a high vis tabard and jacket with writing which says ‘Horse in training’ but sometimes that does absolutely nothing.

“I think education is the key thing. We won’t win everyone round but it would be nice to feel we’re starting to sort the problem – a problem which is getting progressively worse.”

Bethany has also written to council and highways authorities about improved signage and education as well as submit GoPro camera footage of dangerous driving to police, however says she is routinely ignored.

Her pleas come soon after a joint campaign involving police began in which speed checks were carried out at accident blackspot Roger Penny Way after a rise in animal road deaths.

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Caroline Scott, chairman of New Forest Equestrian Association said: "As an organisation we would really favour clear and unambiguous signage that shows how wide and slowly to pass a horse, be they ridden or grazing, this could be on every gate adjacent to the cattle grids as you enter the forest.

"We are also very keen to support the average speed cameras on the Roger Penny Way to reduce animal deaths, not so much a problem for ridden horses but grazing animals in the road are very hard to see in the dark or oncoming headlights.

"Many drivers are ignorant of the danger they place themselves in, together with the horse and rider, when passing too close and or, too fast.

"It only takes perhaps a stray paper bag to send a horse jumping sideways into traffic.

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"We would also like to see more riders wearing high viz which particularly in the summer months makes the horse and rider more identifiable in dappled shade and from a distance. We hope all riders make the effort to thank those drivers who do go out of their way to pass wide and slow and set an example to other drivers."

The recently revised Highway Code states: “Be particularly careful of horse riders and horse-drawn vehicles especially when approaching, overtaking, passing or moving away. Always pass wide and slowly. When you see a horse on a road, you should slow down to a maximum of 10 mph. Be patient, do not sound your horn or rev your engine. When safe to do so, pass wide and slow, allowing at least two metres of space.

“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.”