MOTORISTS have been urged to be more careful when passing horses following an increase in equine related road incidents across Wales.

In the past year alone, 57 road incidents in Wales were reported to The British Horse Society (BHS) - resulting in the death of one horse and one person.

New statistics released by the charity show that just over one incident a week is occurring on Welsh roads.

According to the figures, six incidents were recorded in Flintshire in 2018-2019, an increase on the same period the previous year in which three incidents were recorded.

Wrexham saw two incidents recorded in 2018-2019, an increase on the previous year when one incident was recorded.

Across the UK in the last year, 845 incidents were reported to the charity - resulting in the tragic death of 87 horses and 4 people.

Almost three quarters of these incidents occurred due to vehicles passing by too closely.

Alan Hiscox, director of safety at the BHS, said: “The inclusion of horse incident statistics from Dartmoor and the New Forest allow us to have a much better understanding of the rate of incidents occurring on our roads.

"The dramatic increase in incidents is of huge concern, but we are aware that only one in 10 accidents are reported to us, therefore these figures are only the tip of the iceberg.

"We will continue to promote our key 'Dead Slow' messages and strive to ensure all vulnerable road users are kept safe.”

The BHS launched its ‘Dead Slow’ road safety campaign to help better educate drivers on how to pass horses on the road.

The key behavioural change messages to drivers are that when they see a horse on the road they will slow down to a maximum of 15 miles per hour, be patient and do not sound the horn or rev the engine, pass the horse wide and slow (if safe to do so) at least a car’s width if possible and drive slowly away.

The BHS is also currently working on a six month trial with Huufe, a new app that allows people to report incidents easily and quickly.

The app allows the user to select the type of incident they were involved in whilst also recording the location and time.

To find out more about the charity, visit www.bhs.org.uk