How Police Are Now Enforcing the Highway Code Rule That Makes You Slow to 10mph

Rule 215 of the Highway Code tells drivers to slow to a maximum of 10mph and pass at least two metres wide when overtaking horses on public roads. Most drivers are aware of the rule in broad terms. Far fewer comply with it in practice, and enforcement has historically been almost non-existent. That is beginning to change. South Wales Police launched Operation Arabis in partnership with the British Horse Society, targeting roads where incidents between vehicles and horses have been repeatedly reported. The campaign is part of a growing national push — and a debate about whether the Highway Code should be strengthened to make the 10mph rule mandatory rather than advisory.

What the Current Rule Actually Says

Rule 215 of the Highway Code uses the word “should.” Drivers should slow to 10mph. They should allow at least two metres of space. They should be patient and not sound the horn or rev the engine when approaching horses. The use of “should” rather than “must” is legally significant. “Must” in the Highway Code indicates a requirement backed by law; “should” indicates strong guidance that courts can and do take into account in liability cases, but that does not carry the same immediate enforcement weight as a statutory requirement.

The 2022 update to the Highway Code introduced the hierarchy of road users, placing pedestrians and cyclists at the top and giving more explicit responsibilities to drivers of motor vehicles. Horses were included in the update, with clearer guidance on spacing and speed. But the language remained advisory rather than mandatory for the specific speed threshold of 10mph.

Calls to change “should” to “must” have grown louder in recent years. The British Horse Society, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, and a number of equestrian organisations have all argued that the advisory language allows drivers to treat the rule as optional, and that police find it harder to act on incidents without a clear statutory speed limit that applies specifically to passing horses.

The Scale of the Problem

The British Horse Society records incidents involving horses on public roads through its Horse Accident Reporting Database. In 2024 alone, the organisation logged more than 3,000 incidents. These range from near misses — vehicles that passed too fast or too close — to serious accidents in which horses were injured, bolted, or caused collisions. Riders were injured in a significant number of cases. The data represents only incidents that were reported to the BHS, meaning the true figure is likely considerably higher.

Horses are prey animals with a flight response that can be triggered by sudden noise, fast-moving vehicles, or unexpected movements. A horse that bolts on a public road can knock a rider off, collide with a vehicle, or run into oncoming traffic in a matter of seconds. Drivers who pass at 50mph or closer than a car’s width put the rider, the horse, and themselves at serious risk. The consequences of a horse-vehicle collision at speed are severe for all parties.

Rural roads present the greatest risk. Single-track lanes, roads with poor sightlines, and routes used regularly by horse riders and hunt meets are where incidents cluster. The British Horse Society’s incident data shows that certain postcodes in rural Wales, the West Country, and parts of the Home Counties see repeated reports from the same stretches of road.

Operation Arabis and What Police Are Doing

South Wales Police launched Operation Arabis after analysis of British Horse Society data identified the roads around Miskin in South Wales as a location with repeated incident reports. The operation involved uniformed officers on roads where horses are regularly exercised, combined with a public engagement component at the Royal Welsh Show, where officers worked alongside the British Horse Society and Project EDWARD — the national road safety awareness initiative — to reach both motorists and horse riders.

The approach mirrors road safety initiatives used for other vulnerable road user groups such as cyclists and motorcyclists, where police combine enforcement activity at known hotspots with broader education campaigns to change driver behaviour. Officers involved in Operation Arabis used both warning and fixed penalty processes for drivers observed passing horses at excessive speed or with insufficient clearance.

Wales has a higher proportion of equestrian road use than many parts of England, given its rural character and the strong tradition of horse ownership and riding across the country. The Welsh Government’s investment in rural road safety has made the region an early adopter of enforcement campaigns targeting vehicle-horse incidents. Similar operations have been run by police forces in Devon and Cornwall, Hertfordshire, and Leicestershire, each citing British Horse Society data as the trigger for focusing resources on equestrian road safety.

The Case for Making the 10mph Rule Mandatory

The government’s Road Safety Strategy, published in January 2026, sets a target of reducing deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s roads by 65 per cent by 2035. Equestrian safety sits within the broader framework of protecting vulnerable road users. Labour has faced growing calls from MPs with rural constituencies, equestrian organisations, and road safety advocates to use the Road Safety Strategy to strengthen the language in Rule 215 from advisory to mandatory.

The practical argument for making the 10mph rule a legal requirement rather than guidance is that it gives police and prosecutors a clear, unambiguous standard. When a driver passes a horse at 40mph and there is an incident, the current framework requires demonstrating careless or dangerous driving under existing road traffic legislation. A specific statutory requirement to slow to 10mph would make the offence clearer, and would allow fixed penalty notices to be issued more straightforwardly rather than requiring officers to build a case for more serious driving offences.

Opponents of mandatory speed limits for specific situations argue that blanket rules applied to individual circumstances can create perverse outcomes — for example, forcing a driver on a busy A-road to drop to 10mph when a horse is visible several hundred metres ahead, potentially creating rear-end collision risk from following traffic. The nuanced approach, they argue, is better served by advisory language that allows drivers to exercise judgement while knowing they will be held to account in court if their judgement falls short.

What Drivers Should Do Right Now

Rule 215 is the law as it stands. Courts in personal injury and criminal cases have applied it as a standard of reasonable driving behaviour, and failure to comply with it can constitute evidence of careless driving under section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Whether or not the rule ever becomes mandatory in a direct enforcement sense, departing from it puts you at legal and financial risk if something goes wrong.

The practical steps required are simple. When you see a horse on the road ahead — whether being ridden or led — reduce your speed progressively so that you are at or below 10mph before you reach the horse. Do not brake sharply immediately next to the animal. Do not accelerate past it. Do not sound your horn. Pass on the horse’s right-hand side, leaving at least two metres of clearance, and only pass when the road ahead is clear and you have sufficient space to do so without cutting the gap short. If a rider signals you to stop or wait, do so.

If you are on a road where horses are regularly present — such as near an equestrian centre, a racehorse training yard, or a bridle path that crosses the road — treat the approach with the same care you would a school crossing. The presence of one horse does not mean more are not following around the next bend.

Riders can report incidents involving vehicles and horses to the British Horse Society’s Horse Accident Reporting database at bhs.org.uk/horse-accidents. Each report adds to the data set that police forces including South Wales Police use to decide where to target operations such as Arabis. Consistent reporting is the most effective tool equestrians have for driving enforcement resources to the routes where they are most needed.

What to Do

If you drive regularly on rural roads, treat any horse sighting as a cue to drop to 10mph and hold that speed until you have fully cleared the horse and rider. The current rule is advisory, but the legal consequences of a collision — and the moral consequences — are not. Operation Arabis will not be the last police initiative of its kind, and the political momentum behind strengthening Rule 215 is growing. Adjusting your driving now, before any rule change, is the right approach.

Sources:

• GB News: Wales Motorists Highway Code 10mph
• British Horse Society: Riding on Roads
• London Loves Business: Police 10mph Clampdown