Cyclist guilty of lack of consideration for hitting a horse

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661-Pete
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Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by 661-Pete »

This is very upsetting. How deep is the ignorance and lack of understanding displayed by a certain sub-class of so-called 'cyclists', about the needs of other road users?
http://road.cc/content/news/243742-vide ... -triathlon
Clearly this particular horse has been carefully trained to tolerate passing cyclists without spooking. It probably won't be, from now on... :(
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reohn2
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by reohn2 »

Morons! :twisted:
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eileithyia
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by eileithyia »

My understanding that the race organisation 'humanrace' have taken this up, will be id'ing the individuals, banning them from their events future and referring on to the Triathlon Assoc for further action.....
Sadly the kick back of comments on social media has hardly made us anything other than public enemy number one ... :(
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Tangled Metal
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by Tangled Metal »

That horse was amazing! So calm with cyclists passing from behind. On both sides too. That really is one well trained and calm horse. I not a horse rider but I have spoken to someone who had been a keen one. I've learnt how hard it is can be to train horses to be calm plus cyclists are able to move up quickly and relatively quietly to horses which make training so important. I have nothing but respect for whoever trained that horse.

I watched the video and kept seeing close passes. Each one I thought was the cyclist the clip was about. Then the hit actually happened. IMHO the close passes at race speed were bad enough but that contact was beyond the pale. It was poor riding and tbh of I was racing someone with that level of poor judgement / risk assessment I'd question how safe they were racing.

My question to the organization who ran the event would be what signage of the event had been put up IMHO such an event should have warning signs up at least the afternoon before it. If even a local didn't know it was going on then that's a sign of bad organisation, isn't it?

I wonder how the organisers and body for this sport plan to catch the rider and others? Did anyone see numbers to identify riders? I know competitors are identified but in such a video clip do you think the identifiers are going to be visible, especially for the worst offence that lead to contact and injury? A dangerous rider has more than likely got away with what is probably an offence.
pwa
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by pwa »

A bunch of k..bs. I hope every one of them finds a suitable pothole in the very near future. This is the sort of thing that reminds you that you are not defined by being a "cyclist", but by being a "human being". The horse rider, and the horse for that matter, are clearly being bullied. Every one of those bikes should pass on the opposite side of the road, and not too fast. Even if that means getting a poorer time.
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Cugel
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by Cugel »

Tangled Metal wrote:That horse was amazing! So calm with cyclists passing from behind. On both sides too. That really is one well trained and calm horse. I not a horse rider but I have spoken to someone who had been a keen one. I've learnt how hard it is can be to train horses to be calm plus cyclists are able to move up quickly and relatively quietly to horses which make training so important. I have nothing but respect for whoever trained that horse.

I watched the video and kept seeing close passes. Each one I thought was the cyclist the clip was about. Then the hit actually happened. IMHO the close passes at race speed were bad enough but that contact was beyond the pale. It was poor riding and tbh of I was racing someone with that level of poor judgement / risk assessment I'd question how safe they were racing.

My question to the organization who ran the event would be what signage of the event had been put up IMHO such an event should have warning signs up at least the afternoon before it. If even a local didn't know it was going on then that's a sign of bad organisation, isn't it?

I wonder how the organisers and body for this sport plan to catch the rider and others? Did anyone see numbers to identify riders? I know competitors are identified but in such a video clip do you think the identifiers are going to be visible, especially for the worst offence that lead to contact and injury? A dangerous rider has more than likely got away with what is probably an offence.


In a proper race there would be a lead car and a commissar at the front, who would slow the race in such open-road circumstances. Commissars are quite keen to ensure riders in open road races obey the highway code et al.

These pretend races without any kind of controlling commissar seem to encourage the wannabee wassocks to exhibit the sort of stupid behaviours on the road that they no doubt perform when in their Toad-mobiles. Any eejit can enter, it seems, with no requirement for a license or membership of a club that teaches them how to ride races in a safe way. In a triathlon, they're scattered out there en masse with no controls over their behaviour at all.

Perhaps we could call it "the sportive syndrome".

On the other hand, I have seen stupid behaviour from one or two over-excited individuals (especially sprogs) in proper races, although these were rare and swiftly penalised by the aforementioned commissars.

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Grandad
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by Grandad »

Perhaps we could call it "the sportive syndrome".


No, it was not a sportive but a triathlon, which is a race.

My understanding of triathlons is the the cycling section is not as strictly controlled as road races run under British Cycling rules.
Tangled Metal
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by Tangled Metal »

It does highlight the way road racing has issues in this country I reckon. There is a lot of potential for conflict when racing on normal roads. Routes chosen through to day of the event plays into the risk assessment any organiser must surely make.

It seems the horse rider had been out riding any 7:30am to their halfway destination. Then left that place about 9am. So assuming the accident happened just after that then the triathlon probably started early considering the ride stage is in the middle of a triathlon. That's good start. They had rules about racing on the road (obey highway regulations / laws). The horse rider said she didn't know about the race. That is an indication that they didn't have signs warning if the race. That's a mistake.

However that won't stop competitors taking chances for a better time / position. Can you do anything other than rely on the competitor's to keep themselves and others safe?
Tangled Metal
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by Tangled Metal »

Grandad wrote:
Perhaps we could call it "the sportive syndrome".


No, it was not a sportive but a triathlon, which is a race.

My understanding of triathlons is the the cycling section is not as strictly controlled as road races run under British Cycling rules.

The governing body for the sport provided the race officials apparently. You'd think they'd know enough to handle the cycling section as well as the swim and run section. Would triathlon not share some experience with BC officials too?
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TrevA
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by TrevA »

Locally we have the Outlaw Ironman Triathlon. The signs are up for weeks in advance, warning about the race and that delays are possible. They even close off some side roads and don't allow right turns across the course, to ensure safety of the public and the competitors. The triathlon in the video, doesn't seem well organised in comparison, if there were no warning signs about the event.
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

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I'd post some swearing in the comments but I'm not registered.
Ontherivet77
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by Ontherivet77 »

Disgraceful stuff. Human Events have said that they will locate the rider responsible and ban them from future events. However, I like to see the organisers be banned if this is the best that they can do.
Tangled Metal
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by Tangled Metal »

TrevA wrote:Locally we have the Outlaw Ironman Triathlon. The signs are up for weeks in advance, warning about the race and that delays are possible. They even close off some side roads and don't allow right turns across the course, to ensure safety of the public and the competitors. The triathlon in the video, doesn't seem well organised in comparison, if there were no warning signs about the event.

My emphasis on bold above. That's the start of the problem. I very much doubt this horse rider would have been on that road on the day off a triathlon if she'd have known about it.

I'm not saying she shouldn't be on the road just that you're going to want to avoid any potential issues. I'm sure most will agree that cycle racing on open roads has potential for conflict. If you've ever been overtaken by fast roadies by surprise when it riding you'll appreciate the potential surprise factor they can have, even for humans let alone horses. As much as I believe roads are for all types of road users (I don't advocate pedestrians on main roads though in most situations) I also believe in discretion is the better part of valour. I've changed plans before when I've known there's been a big sporting event on where I was going.

So IMHO triathlon organisers should make their event known in the area well before the event. You can't control participants in a race but you can help the general public make informed decisions on their activities in the area on the day of the event. If this event doesn't happen again or the organiser learns from mistakes hopefully there's a positive going forward.
reohn2
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by reohn2 »

IMO whether an organised race,sign posted or not,that is no way to pass a horse and rider on any road at any time,firstly for the rider and horse's safety,and also for any following riders in the event should the horse have reared and spooked badly.
As I posted up thread these cyclists are "MORONS :twisted: " and IMO their stupidity and recklessness should cost them a ban on any further events nation wide and a lot of money in the form of a huge fine!
Or(alluding to another thread)were they just being careless? :?
Or is this the way we now behave when time is of the essence? :?
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Tangled Metal
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Re: Triathlete hits horse on road. Shameful!

Post by Tangled Metal »

They're racing! You can't race without going fast and you could argue that they're taking risks to gain time. IMHO there is no easy way to reconcile safe riding on an open road with racing. Ideally the roads would have a rolling road block but this is the UK, never going to happen except for the top flight races.

If your still want cycle based racing on British roads then the only option is to make events widely known to try to reduce road use and to run them at quiet times. Evening events, early on a Sunday morning, etc. Reduce the chances of idiots on bikes causing issues through dangerous racing around non - competing road users. Then making an example of the more dangerous morons if you can catch them.

BTW with TTing and cycle racing you used to need a race licence to compete. Do triathletes need race a license to compete? Removal or threat of removal could be a deterrent. But that all depends on catching the offending competitor.

Ultimately the issue is racing on open streets has no guarantees of safety for the general public. Racing and general road use isn't very compatible. Racing culture too.
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