A 'HORRIFIC' crash nearly killed a group of horse riders as a car overtook them on a blind bend crashing into an oncoming car.

Drivers have been urged to slow down when passing horse riders before somebody is killed.

Jane Calvert was riding her horse in Haw Lane, Bledlow Ridge, when a car overtaking her crashed head-on on Monday, November 7.

The crash happened at about 4pm, 10 metres from Jane's livery and ight next to the riders.

Nine-year-old Bob fell of his pony onto his back and hurt his head as a result. Jane and the other children were fine but left shaken.

She said: "There was three lots of us, he couldn’t pull back in so had to wait and have the car hit him. The car was driving 60mph and swerved left and went onto the banking.

"The gold estate car hit the overtaking BMW car, he was proper full pelt. I'm very surprised there were no repercussions."

Jane described the road having a blind bend and a hill making it hard to see oncoming traffic.

Thames Valley Police confirmed they were called to the crash and two drivers were placed into the care of South Central Ambulance Service.

Jane, who has more than 47 years of experiencing in riding horses, hopes this story will serve as a warning to drivers to slow down.

"It could have been horrific and horrendous. The smash happened next to the little pony, Bob fell off and landed on his back and banged his head.  Both [drivers] were taken to hospital.

"I spoke to the lad who overtook us and he's never been on that road before, he wasn't going fast, it was the guy coming towards us, he went in full pelt. Thank god our horses are well behaved but why would you take over horses? It doesn’t bare thinking about.

"Just slow down don’t take over if you cant see the road, don’t be overtaking horses where you wouldn’t overtake another car on a blind bed or brow of a hill where you cant see."

Jane rushed the children back to the livery to safety and then helped assist emergency services. 

The two cars were 'completely written off' and had to be towed away.

Since the crash, Jane is proposing the council to install signage on t he road warning drivers to slow down due to the low visability.

Ms Calvert said: "Everyone seems to be in a rush with people overtaking parked cars with a foot away. It's honestly just getting worse and worse and worse.

"I've spoken to the council to get some signs put in place and hope to get the story printed for the school to pop in kids bags to show their parents as they drive on this road too. Let's hope this slows some people down." 

The Highway Code issued updated guidance this summer on overtaking horses on the road. 

What are the rules? 

  • Drivers must always pass wide and slow with at least 2 metres of space 
  • When you see a horse on a road, you should slow down to a maximum of 10 mph.
  • Be patient, do not sound your horn or rev your engine. 
  • Keep your speed down at bends and on narrow country roads.