A NEW road safety campaign to reduce injuries and deaths as a result of vehicles passing too close to horses has been launched by Police Scotland.

The Lose the Blinkers campaign is aimed at all road users where many riders stable their horses, and exercise them in the evenings and at weekends.

According to the British Horse Society, there have been 50 riders injured, two deaths, 43 horses injured and 10 horses killed on Scotland’s roads since 2010. Many of these have been due to vehicles either colliding or passing too close to the horse, causing them to throw the rider or to panic and bolt.

The city has a number of rising schools including Riding for the Disabled in Summerston; Linn Equestrian Centre, South Cathkin Farm and Roundknowe Farm. The new campaign is therefore backed by the British Horse Society and Glasgow City Council, who funded safety posters.

A council spokesman said: “ On-road driver proximity has been identified as a problem endangering the lives of horses and riders, some of whom are children. As part of our road safety partnership work with other agencies including Police Scotland, the council contributed a small amount of money to the print cost of safety posters which urge people to be safe and considerate drivers.”

Plain clothed officers from the Mounted Branch will patrol areas of concern and record incidents of bad driving on camera as part of the campaign. The force say they will firstly offer advice to drivers before moving to enforcement next month.