Legislative Assembly Economy and Infrastructure Committee Inquiry into vulnerable road users in Victoria
By Karri Nadazdy, Animal Care Australia Horse & Livestock Representative.
Timeline:
Inquiry Commenced: March 2023
Appeared at Inquiry: 24 August 2023
Committee report: 1 May 2024
Government response was due 1 November 2024 – but we’re still waiting!
The Victorian Legislative Assembly Economy and Infrastructure Committee’s Final Report for the Inquiry into the impact of road safety behaviours on vulnerable road users was released on 1st May, 2024, bringing particularly positive news for horse riders.
Animal Care Australia is a national incorporated association established to advocate for real animal welfare by those who keep, breed and care for animals. Our goal is to promote and encourage high standards in all interactions with the animals in our care. ACA was concerned to learn that the laws for vehicles passing ridden and driven horses on our roads are so lax, they are effectively non-existent. The current rules put the responsibility of staying safe solely on the equestrian.
In 2019, Melbourne City Council reacted to an issue with how motorists were behaving around horse drawn carriages. Instead of resolving the actual issues, they decided it was just easier to ban the horses. This is NOT the answer. The horses were not hitting the cars, the cars were hitting the horses. The elderly, the disabled and children are also hit by cars but we doubt anyone in the Government would suggest that all vulnerable road users should be banned from using the roads. It sounds ludicrous to say that, but that’s exactly what the Council did to the carriage horses. The problem was not solved and 3 years later, we are still discussing the same issues. Despite horses sharing the roads since the very early days of settlement there has been no substantial changes to protect them. Currently there is a recommendation to slow down when there is a horse on the road ahead but there is no enforceable law. We cannot re-educate drivers on laws that don’t exist.
In April 2023, Animal Care Australia worked together with national equestrian association Bitless Inc, to conduct a survey of equestrian experiences on Victorian roads. The results of that survey were presented in submissions by both organisations and witness testimony to the Inquiry on 24th August 2024. Animal Care Australia and Bitless Inc provided testimony that motorists are failing to safely pass by horses on the roads, usually driving too fast, not leaving enough space, or deliberately provoking the horses to react. Potential solutions to improve equestrian safety were discussed, from signage that tells drivers to slow down to 40km/hr when passing equestrians, to whether helmets and hi viz should be a requirement to ride or drive horses on roads. Between 2019 and 2023, two riders and at least six horses were killed on Victorian roads.
When the Committee’s Report was published on 1st May, 2024, all but one of Animal Care Australia’s recommendations were adopted by the Inquiry Committee, most significantly, the recommendation to recognise horse riders in the definition of vulnerable road users in future. This means horse riders will be considered when policy is made that affects us.
Additionally, horse riders stand to gain from several of the 56 Recommendations in the Final Report, many of which were advocated for by Animal Care Australia. These include the development of a vulnerable road users’ advisory group to contribute to development of road safety interventions; awareness campaigns and new avenues on where to report dangerous driving; adding the words ‘Pass wide and slow’ on diamond road signs alerting drivers to horses in the area; and review the need to specify a lower speed limit when motorists pass horses in the road rules.
Recommendation 1: The Victorian Government develop a road user hierarchy system to provide guidance so that all road users understand their responsibility towards others’ safety on the road was adopted from Animal Care Australia’s submission, and could be the most significant to benefit horse riders.
The recently implemented hierarchy of road users in the UK prioritises the safety of the most vulnerable individuals - pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders - by placing them at the forefront. This system de-emphasises the convenience of motor vehicles, which has traditionally overshadowed the needs of others.
The Final Report by the Committee still needs to be accepted and then implemented by the Victorian Government, and was due on 1st November, 2024, but has not yet been released. We will update you when it is published.
