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Be Seen. Be Safe. Why does High-Visibility matter?

By lighting ourselves and our animals up on the road, we believe it gives motorists a greater opportunity to see us, and in turn, make an informed decision around approaching and passing vulnerable road users safely.  Wearing high vis with the Pass Wide and Slow road safety message helps to share this positive “crisp clean message” in the community.   Chair Julia McLean listened to support from politicians for the road safety message whilst delivering to Parliament’s Select ...

Be Seen. Be Safe. An Appeal from a Cycling Horse Riding Enthusiast to Wear Hi-Vis

I would like to appeal to all drivers to pass cyclists WIDE and SLOW, knowing we may swerve at any time to avoid a pothole or other obstacle in the road. But my appeal is also to cyclists to BE SEEN. Can you see the cyclist in this photo? Would you spot them in time while driving 100km/hr?I’ve bike packed extensively throughout the South Island and it’s an all-too-common sight.  Dark clothing. No high vis. ...

"Everything about that day was just luck"

“Everything about that day was just luck. If anyone had been behind the 4WD that hit me, I would have been killed.”...

Bringing horse riders’ voices to government

Fellow equestrian and advocate Brenda Reading likes to be informed and in turn, keep her local Member of Parliament informed. When she met to discuss the importance of Vulnerable Road User status for equestrians in Transport Legislation, the response from her representative wasn’t entirely positive and forthcoming.  However what happened next is to be applauded. Waitaki MP Miles Anderson wrote in his official capacity to the transport authority – Waka Kotahi - and asked for a respo...

Life on Hokianga roads

I live in Horeke, Hokianga – a place of raw beauty where the only streetlights are the stars and the sun. Out here, the roads curve through hills and valleys, cloaked in darkness at night and often thick with morning mist. It’s just us, the land, and the sky. I’m a Western rider. Traditionally, that meant no helmets, no hi-vis – just you, your horse, and the wide-open feel. But moving to Horeke changed that.The speed of some cars on our narrow, winding roads is unbelievable. You feel it ...

Lost access, lost safety

Once upon a time horses were the main means of transport for early New Zealand and served in wars alongside their military owners. Fast forward and we find horses displaced from historical bridle trails, banned from reserves and beaches, ousted from crown forests onsold to overseas investors and sadly excluded from pathways and trails that enable vulnerable user groups to have a safer off road journey.This is a quick snapshot of examples where horse riders have lost existing access....

A lifetime of road riding risks

My name is Lee and I’m 50 yrs old and have been riding since I was two.My road riding experiences have scarred me for life. “The biggest impact and something I will never forget is a call from my best friend’s mother that my 16-year old friend is dead.” She and her horse had been hit by a car “can you come, can you come”. I drove out and they were loading my friend into the back of the ambulance. Her horse was lying on the road in pain. I went and borrowed a gun from someone I knew ...

A close call on New Zealand roads

Have you ever had a car pass you so close that you could have moved your foot 2cm and made contact with it? So fast that it would have just about taken your foot off? While that isn't the only near miss I've had while out riding my horse, it was most certainly the scariest one....

A heartwarming road encounter

At about 9:30am I decided to put the brave pants on and take Max down to the Industrial Estate in Ashburton for a gander. Not far from home and, bonus, the huge empty sections had just been mowed – about 20-30 acres to meander gracefully across.Tad windy but had me brave pants on so exited stage left out of driveway....

A life changed in an instant

On December 13, 2024 my life changed and the aftermath of it all meant a long personal recovery for me, and experiencing first hand a system that is broken for horse riders. I don’t say that lightly but the facts speak for themselves.On late Friday afternoon my friend and I were riding our horses on a stretch of road we ride regularly. It’s a rural road in Timaru and part of a block we exercise our horses on. We were walking single file when a combine harvester came around the corner. It was...

Jim and Sass: a story of loss

Jim was in and out of consciousness and his horse was put down from horrific injuriesJim and his two nephews set off on October 7, 2024 in the morning with the aim to help out a friend in locating a colt that had jumped out of its paddock the day before.  It was missing and Jim felt his tracking skills could be of use.  He is re-known for working with horses, breaking them in or putting mileage on them on behalf of riders in his community....

Your stories

They are illustrative of the common themes in road user behaviour and decision making that are putting lives at risk on New Zealand roads. Please remember, for every near miss, there is always the realisation that it could have been a lot worse. These stories were shared with Julia McLean in 2024 over a period of a week, and it’s what led to the understanding that there is an untold amount of suffering happening within New Zealand’s recreational horse riding community. “My best frie...

Cycling, walking, and riding for independence

My name is Halina and I am a vulnerable road user every time I leave my rural area on the city fringe of New Plymouth. Road safety is important to me on so many levels. ...

Poor judgement, big consequences

15-year old Ereti and her two friends had to shift their horses into a new paddock. The paddocks weren’t very far apart. It was late in January 2025 and her Pāpā was waiting for her as she got the job done. She saddled her friend’s horse and they all headed out single file down the quiet road. It wasn’t long before they heard a 4WD ute approach from behind, revving its engine. They recognised the young driver, and at first no-one thought too much of it. The vehicle passed. But a s...

Keeping your pets safe while travelling

Brake heavily with an unrestrained dog in the back of your car, and a canine missile will be projected into you, your passenger, or through the windscreen. This is not good for the pet or the passengers.We strap children into child car seats, but often leave our pets without any restraint at all.A dog can be transported in the boot of a station wagon if there’s an appropriate cargo barrier that fits between the top of the rear seats and the roof. This doesn’t completely protect the dog from ...

The road code and sharing the road

Just over 50% of people in New Zealand live in one of the seven major cities. The chance of coming across a horse on the road in the city is fairly slim - in my 30+ years of living here, it’s only happened once for me (on Waiheke Island which, while technically part of Auckland, is an anomaly). However, when I have driven out of Auckland, it has happened more times.Are we preparing our drivers in cities for dealing with horses on the road? Are we taught much about sharing the road with horses ...

When a safe crossing isn’t enough

Not many horses hit by a car live to tell the tale. We thought it would be one of the safest intersections in Auckland – beside Meadowbank Pony Club at the top of St Heliers Bay Road. But a driver in a sports car who ran a red light proved us wrong. He said he didn't see the large 16.1hh grey horse being ridden on a controlled pedestrian crossing in broad daylight.Thank goodness my horse is a solid boy and the crash caused more of a dent in the sports car bonnet than it did in him. But it stil...