In charge of a restive horse

Since time immemorial, the internet has been a source of urban legend.  A certain proportion of these myths refer to ancient road rules involving horses, laws that are still in force a century after their use-by date.  They almost inevitably prove to have been repealed decades ago, much to everyone's disappointment.

It is with great pleasure therefore that I give you section 303A of the current road use regulations of the state of Queensland, of the nation known as Australia:

TRANSPORT OPERATIONS (ROAD USE MANAGEMENT--ROAD RULES) REGULATION 1999 - SECT 303A

303A Giving way to restive horses(1) This section applies if a person in charge of a restive horse gives a signal, by raising a hand and pointing to the horse, to the driver of a motor vehicle on a road.
(2) The driver must--
(a) drive the vehicle as near as practicable to the far left side of the road; and
(b) stop the vehicle's engine; and
(c) not move the vehicle until there is no reasonable likelihood that the noise of the motor, or the movement of the vehicle, will aggravate the restiveness of the horse.
Maximum penalty--20 penalty units.
(3) In this section--
in charge of includes leading, driving or riding.
This is exactly my 400th post, by the way.  How the time flies.


4 comments:

Christina Auret said...

Well, it is still a pretty sensible law, but most people would probably disobey due to ignorance, surely?

Gary Corby said...

Hi Christina, I knew some sensible person would correctly point out that the rule actually makes sense.

But I still claim it sounds good!

I can just imagine some learner getting this as a question in their driver's permit test.

Restive horses aren't exactly a common problem. But everyone here knows what the wombat crossing warning sign means. Much more likely than a restive horse. I imagine in South Africa the term Zebra Crossing takes on a whole new meaning?

Christina Auret said...

There are a lot less zebra wondering around than you would think, actually.
The biggest problem in my area is Guinea fowl. They travel in packs and play chicken. Unfortunately they are quite dense in more than one sense of the word, so hitting on while traveling at high speed can cause quite a bit of damage.

L. T. Host said...

Wow, I can actually really, really appreciate this law. Can't tell you how many idiots in cars have nearly killed friends of mine by honking or revving right when they drove by them on horseback. Of course, I don't think a law would have stopped those people from doing that... they were being mean on purpose... but I can still appreciate it for its intent.