All but one of New Zealand’s regional and unitary councils are now backing a campaign to keep horse riders safer on New Zealand roads.
The advocacy group, Pass Wide and Slow New Zealand, has the support of Police, St John, and the NZ Trucking Association for its efforts to educate drivers about horses on roads.
But the group says local government endorsement is important if riders are to be recognised by NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi as vulnerable road users.
Otago/Southland is the only Regional Council Road Transport Committee that has so far not endorsed Vulnerable Road User status for horse riders and carriage drivers.
McLean says until recently the only official stats she could find on rider fatalities came from ACC, which recorded 17 deaths between 2007 and 2024.
But an information request to Health New Zealand has suggested that number may be low.
"We knew there must be more, because of what we were hearing from the equestrian community. But the police and NZTA don’t specifically record fatal [accidents] involving horses," she told LDR.
At the suggestion of an ACC staffer, McLean asked Health New Zealand if it had any stats on deaths involving horse riders on roads.
"And seriously, within five minutes I had a response with a complete breakdown of ages and gender for the period. Forty deaths in total ... it was very disturbing to read."
That figure includes the 17 deaths recorded by ACC.
The fatalities were split evenly between male and female riders or carriage drivers with the youngest just 10 years old, and the oldest, 75, McLean said.
It is not clear if the additional fatalities involved a collision with a vehicle.
Days later it occurred to her that WorkSafe NZ might also hold figures, and her inquiries revealed a further three more recent deaths, from 2020-2024.
"So in total, 43 deaths that we know of, and we don’t yet have the Health NZ figures for the past four years. The total is not captured anywhere in one place.”
NZTA based its figures on information from police attending crashes but the police report system had no ‘tickbox’ to say a crash involved a horse rider, McLean said.
"I’ve spoken to police at length about this and OIA’d them for their crash stats and they’re buried.
"The only info they could give me was they issued thirteen $55 infringement tickets in 13 years for risky driving around horses."
McLean is hopeful her efforts will change things.
New Zealand spends $4 billion a year on rehabilitation following road trauma, much of it preventable, she said.
"Horse-riders will be part of that and if motorists would just slow down and give them two metres space we could spare lives and suffering.”
There are encouraging signs that change is afoot, McLean said.
In the past week NZTA has put out two social media posts showing how to safely approach horses and carriages on the roads - and for that she says, equestrians all over Aotearoa, are grateful.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
