A body-builder, stolen ice cream and horses star in ‘ground-breaking’ road safety film

A body-builder swiping a child’s ice cream has been used in a “ground-breaking” new video aimed at helping keep vulnerable road users safe – including horses and riders.

The British Horse Society (BHS) worked with road safety organisation Co-Pilot on the short film that aims to clarify the hierarchy of road users, a concept included in the 2022 Highway Code changes.

H&H has reported on confusion about the idea, and Co-Pilot founder and CEO James Evans said he believes more clarification was needed.

“The Think! campaign did a pretty good job of publicising it, and the Department for Transport a reasonably good job but a lot of people feel it hasn’t gone far enough,” Mr Evans told H&H. “If you’re going to fundamentally change the Highway Code and not tell everyone, that’s a bit of a problem.”

Mr Evans said that Co-Pilot, a membership organisation that promotes collaborative working on road safety, conducted market testing on awareness of the hierarchy. This found that young drivers are more likely to know about it from recent instruction but may not apply the practice, of giving way to pedestrians for example, as they fear other road users may not understand what they are doing, causing an accident.

“Unless you’ve got almost 100% awareness, you’ll have some people thinking one thing will happen and the rest thinking something different,” Mr Evans said.

Bill Thisdell came up with the idea of the film, which shows a child’s ice cream being taken by progressively stronger people, then explains how the hierarchy is designed to protect vulnerable road users. Narrated by BHS president Martin Clunes, it shows the ice cream van passing cyclists, riders and pedestrians safely, explaining the guidance for each case.

“Horses now sit alongside pedestrians and cyclists as vulnerable road users,” a BHS spokesperson told H&H. “This rule highlights that, irrespective of method of transport, those who can do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to others.

“This focused film will play a critical role in making more people aware of the guidance in place and to emphasise the importance of passing horses safely on our roads. Initiatives such as this also highlight the value in working collaboratively to educate drivers and ultimately, to help keep us all as safe as possible while out on the roads.

“The BHS is honoured to have been part of this partnership project and will continue to work with key organisations, like Co-Pilot, to drive even greater change.”

Mr Evans said the film will be shown on social media, and there has been discussion of showing it on television and in cinemas too.

“It’s really important to keep banging the drum,” he said. “It should start some conversations and get some cogs whirring.”

BHS director of safety Alan Hiscox told H&H: “This is a ground-breaking film that really puts into context the hierarchy of road users.

“The BHS safety team were so keen to partner Co-Pilot in this project and our thanks go to them for highlighting this important part of the Highway Code changes.”

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