GEM Warns Drivers to Give Pedestrians and Horse Riders Extra Space This Weekend

• UK clocks go back this weekend, and GEM Motoring Assist is urging drivers to give pedestrians and horse riders extra room as evenings turn dark earlier.
• Department for Transport figures show 364 pedestrians died and 5,958 were seriously injured on Great Britain’s roads in 2025, with evening collisions rising sharply once the clocks change.
• GEM’s head of road safety wants drivers to pass horses at no more than 10mph with two metres of space, and to give the same clearance to pedestrians walking in the road.

A Weekend of Darker Evenings

British clocks go back an hour this weekend, and the extra hour in bed comes with a trade-off every driver feels by Monday: evening drives that used to happen in daylight now happen in the dark. GEM Motoring Assist, the breakdown and road safety organisation, has used the switch to issue a direct warning to drivers: slow down, look twice and leave more room for pedestrians and horse riders on the road.

The Numbers Behind GEM’s Warning

The case for caution is in the official figures. Department for Transport data recorded in the STATS19 database shows 364 pedestrians died on Great Britain’s roads in 2025, with a further 5,958 seriously injured. Road safety researchers have tracked a seasonal pattern in that data for years: collisions involving pedestrians climb in the weeks after the clocks go back, as the evening rush hour shifts from daylight into darkness while drivers and walkers alike adjust to the change.

GEM’s campaign backs the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Operation Dark Night, a national enforcement and awareness push that focuses specifically on pedestrian and horse rider safety over the darker months. “Whether you’re driving through a village, approaching a crossing or rounding a country bend, expect someone ahead who needs your consideration,” said James Luckhurst, GEM’s head of road safety.

Horse Riders Face a Growing Risk

Horse riders are a smaller group of road users than pedestrians, but the risk to them from passing traffic is severe when a collision happens. The British Horse Society recorded 2,810 road incidents involving horses in 2025, including 59 horse deaths and injuries to 86 people. Many of those incidents happen on narrow rural roads with no pavement, where a horse and rider have nowhere to go if a car passes too closely or too fast.

GEM’s advice is specific rather than vague: pass a horse at a maximum of 10mph, leaving at least two metres of space, and wait behind if the road is too narrow to do both safely. The same two-metre rule applies to pedestrians walking in the road where there’s no pavement, which is common on country lanes once autumn cuts visibility and verges turn muddy.

Extra Care as Halloween Approaches

The timing compounds the risk further. Halloween falls six days after the clocks change this year, and trick-or-treating sends more children onto pavements and side streets after dark than on an ordinary evening, often in dark costumes that make them harder to spot. “As Halloween approaches, look out for children crossing between parked cars,” Luckhurst said. “On rural lanes, anticipate walkers where there is no pavement and horse riders around the next bend.”

Parked cars create one of the most common blind spots for drivers in residential areas: a child stepping out between two vehicles gives a driver only a second or two of reaction time, far less than on an open road. Slowing down in streets with parked cars on both sides, and covering the brake rather than the accelerator, buys back some of that lost time.

Simple Habits That Make the Biggest Difference

GEM’s underlying message is less about new rules and more about habits drivers can apply on every dark drive this autumn and winter. Give way to pedestrians crossing or waiting to cross when turning into or out of a junction: drivers focused on gaps in traffic often miss someone already stepping off the kerb. Check that headlights, brake lights and indicators are all working and properly aimed, as a fault that goes unnoticed in summer becomes a genuine hazard once most driving happens in the dark. And build in extra time for familiar routes, so a few seconds spent waiting for a safe place to pass doesn’t turn into a reason to rush.

“Sharing roads safely starts with respect,” Luckhurst said. “A few seconds spent waiting for a safe place to pass can make all the difference.”

GEM points out that the same evening is a good reminder for a wider autumn check: clean and clear headlight lenses, make sure the windscreen is free of smears that scatter oncoming light, and top up screenwash so a sudden spray of road grime doesn’t leave a driver staring through a dirty windscreen at exactly the point when clear visibility counts most. None of it takes long, and all of it adds up over a winter of darker commutes.

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