Speeding with Horseboxes

convert

I was on my way down to a Pony Club competition recently - I had been roped in to help! - and as I was driving on a motorway I was overtaken by a jeep and horsebox, which had two ponies in it.

I was in a car, driving at about 70mph (so just under 120kph) when I was overtaken by this jeep and horsebox which must have been doing at least between 90 and 100 mph! I got such a shock that I didn't think to take the reg. plate, and when I did eventually wake up to the fact I could/should have done that, it was too late as the vehicle was long gone over the horizon and I never saw it again, despite the fact that there was still a significant quantity of 'N' and back roads between the end of the motorway and the location of the event.

What really shocked me was that, not only was the jeep exceeding the speed limit on the motorway (for non towing vehicles), not to mention the towing speed restrictions, the individual driving had absolutely no consideration or regard for the two small ponies in the horsebox. Obviously these people have never been in a horse box when it's moving and have no concept of the feeling a horse gets when in the box. The jeep could be towing at literally 10mph but gives a feeling of moving at about 30mph. People who tow trailers really need to factor this in and cop on and slow down. Is it any wonder that so many horses are hesitant to walk into horseboxes if this is how they are going to be driven? Not to mention the fact that there are so many reported accidents involving horseboxes?

Sorry for the rant, it's just something that really annoyed and upset me when I saw it happening. I just think it's so irresponsible that someone would put their horses at so much risk for the sake of 5 or 10 minutes less on the road.

Oh, and just to clarify about the travelling in the horsebox: when I was really young I sat in the horsebox a few times when it was being parked after taking the horse(s) out of the box. I wasn't actually travelling in it on a journey.

fits

My, thats fast

I really think that even on straight level motorway, 50 mph is about the max. I cant believe they were going so fast... Awful...

Alibear

This isn't the first time I've heard of people driving at 120kmph and overtaking people at that speed whilst towing a trailer with a horse...

Borderfox

see it quite a bit on the way to shows, they really should have a good think about what happens if it goes wrong.

Bellemz

If you're going over 100kmph the trailer starts to swing on the axel...making it very scary for the horses and rather unstable...that's why you shouldn't go over that when towing horses...

doctor evil

Shocking.

Would it be worthwhile mentioning it to the PC? Pretty poor PC if they didn't take it seriously.

Ave Sodalis

That awful! :eek:The poor horses musta been frightened out of their mind or if 'they are used to it', it's still extremely dangerous. At that speeds, I would imagine that the horse box becomes unstable, increasing the chance of overturning the box and the jeep.

Nothing's worth that people, even if you are late keep to the limit and you increase the horse's and your own safety...

Alibear

We were coming back from a show in Adare a couple of months ago (we were towing the trailer with my horse on board), and we were overtaken by someone towing a caravan. They continued to overtake other cars, and we could see the caravan swerving dangerously :eek:

Speeding, especially around bends, is very uncomfortable for the horse and will most likely result in them becoming a nervous traveller.