I find the sinage very logical, although the word usage is sometimes puzzeling. [ sign enter a divided roadway, our equivalent of an interstate: "Racing by Horse Drawn Vehicles Prohibited" It took me two days to figure out that it probably meant racing PAST horse drawn vehicles.

The sign is a red circle with a picture of a horse and buggy (or cart). This means that there is not to be any horse drawn vehicles on that stretch of road. This sounds silly, but there are a lot of places, like the A13, just about a mile from me, that have a good stretch of straight road that goes up onto a flyover (don't know USA equivalent, but it's a road that is a on high rise over a junction, to save you having to slow or stop to negotiate what is often a large roundabout or difficult crossing); these stretches are used for racing 'trotters' and 2 wheeled gigs. There are a lot in the States, but not so many here, but they are popular in some areas. A popular Sunday afternoon diversion is to race these trotters along the public road. There are places where the authorities know it takes place but can't really do anything about it, so they ban horse drawn vehicles from flyovers, because the speeds others travel at, could frighten the horses, plus the height factor - horses don't really like heights. They see where they are, and if they ain't used to it, they try to bolt. Not good when you're 30 feet up.....

The sign '"Racing by Horse Drawn Vehicles Prohibited" means exactly what it says. This is an area where the racing of trotters is not allowed. Mind you, they can clock up some speed when they do race!! If you are a considerate driver in ANY country, you shouldn't speed past horses at all. I've seen a police horse take out the entire front end of one of those huge Subaru 4X4s, because it got a bit close one match day at Upton Park... I don't want that to happen to my vehicle!!

Read the Highway Code - your travel agent/car hire should be able to provide you with the latest copy - it's very useful and should be compulsory reading for EVERYONE who travels on the roads of Britain - pedestrians included!!

LTS

LTS