Driver charged after incident with horses in Virkie
A MAN has been charged with careless driving after an incident which saw a horse owner thrown to the ground and taken to hospital over the weekend.
Local chief inspector Chris Sewell confirmed that an 83-year-old male has now been reported to the procurator fiscal.
It comes after a horse owner was allegedly thrown from her animal due to the speed of a passing vehicle on the A970 main road near Virkie on Sunday afternoon.
Shetland News reported yesterday that Diane Taylor, who is also a horse owner, had appealed to drivers to pass at slower speeds following the incident.
She said it was the second time that a rider had been thrown and injured in the South Mainland of Shetland “in a matter of months”.
Taylor and a friend were out on their horses on Sunday when a van passed them “far too fast”, causing the horses to become “badly spooked”, she said.
One person was thrown off and injured, and has since been signed off their work for two weeks, she added.
Taylor told Shetland News that there “simply isn’t enough awareness of the Highway Code guidance, unfortunately”.
She urged drivers to slow right down, to 10mph or less, when passing horses on the road.
“Before the usual ‘horses shouldn’t be on the road’ comments, many of us in rural areas simply don’t have another option,” she wrote on social media on Monday.
“There are no networks of off-road tracks connecting everywhere we need to go.
“Horses, riders and carriage drivers have a legal right to use the road, just like cyclists, tractors and walkers.”
Taylor said that even the calmest horse could react suddenly if frightened, and that if a vehicle passed too fast or too close then people could be “seriously injured or killed”.
“Drivers should avoid revving the engine, pass wide and slow and be patient and wait if needed to,” she added.
“A few extra seconds for a driver can prevent trauma, injury and heartbreak for riders, carriage drivers, horses and families.”
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