REPORTING ACCIDENTS

The British Horse Society is appealing to all riders, carriage drivers and horse owners to report road traffic accidents involving horses. The number of accident reports received over the past year has dropped but, sadly, this is not due to a reduction in the number of accidents.

BHS head of public affairs, Janet George, said "If we are to push home the safety - to Government, local authorities, motoring organisations and individual motorists (and horse riders), we need statistics. The police  keep records of horse-related accidents, but only if a rider or motorist is injured. Many accidents result in injury or even death to horses, but are not included in the official statistics."

To make it easier to report accidents, the BHS has put it's accident report form on line and is appealing to everyone to make sure that accidents they know about - even if not personally involved - are reported.

"Duplicate reports are easy to spot - we'd rather have three reports about one accident than none," says Janet George.

The BHS online Accident Report Form can be found at www.bhs.org.uk/accidentreport.htm