Road Safety partnerships

British Horse Society

British Horse Society (BHS) Scotland is Scotland's largest equine membership organisation.

The Borders branch is run by volunteers who help deliver work in areas including:

  • access
  • welfare
  • safety
  • training
  • competitions
  • education
  • exams
  • riding clubs

Encouraging driver awareness

BHS promote the Dead Slow message, aimed at drivers to encourage them to slow down near horses.

Horses on the road

BHS have been working alongside DVSA (Driver Vehicle Standards Agency) to try to get horse encounters included in the Hazard Perception/Theory Driving test. They have a horse accidents website which shows where incidents occur and members can log info about incidents they were involved in or are aware of. If you are involved in an incident we would encourage you to log it with the BHS. They are working with Police Scotland, who now has plain-clothed mounted officers on patrol to take enforcement action against unsafe drivers.

BHS also work with driver trainers to incorporate horse encounters in the training programmes' of the following organisations:

  • DHL
  • Ocado
  • Morrison 
  • Network Rail