Sorry,
@Scoosh, I disagree -
@a.twiddler's evaulation of the risk/benefit profile of flying a flag is subjective, and at odds with my own.
I've been riding the lanes around Bury St Edmunds and Newmarket (yes, as in Newmarket Racecourse) - on a recumbent trike (with flag) for the last ten years. IIRC, that's the same "area" where
@a.twiddler says it's unsafe.
It's no big deal when you encounter a horse and rider. As any other road user should be, be alert, and considerate. If you're at risk of being trampled, then you've got too close. You should have proceeded with more caution. Learn from the experience.
Strange that after what I have written about anticipation, thinking "what if" and considering an escape route in various circumstances you immediately leap to the conclusion that I must be in the habit of approaching horses uncautiously close and failing to learn from whatever experiences you gratuitously imagine that I have had. Your evaluation can be considered equally subjective - what works for you, works for you. What works for me, works for me. Frankly, I give all road users plenty of room.
I like to see horses about. They and their riders generally cause no issues to me nor I them. It is indeed no big deal to encounter a horse and rider. I chose not to use a flag (though I think they are a cool accessory for a recumbent in different circumstances) because for my type of riding any benefit I might gain does not outweigh the fact that they do upset horses, maybe not all but enough. So maybe it is more an issue of respect for such road users that I don't make their riders' role harder for a benefit to me that would be marginal. Horses can be spooked by a plastic bag flapping in the wind, why add to other people's issues. I certainly haven't had any problems being seen by other road users but my LWB recumbent isn't ultra low.
Is the flag thing akin to the helmet thread? Have I wandered into a minefield?
It has been many years since I travelled through the Bury St Edmunds/Newmarket area and nice as it is I don't see the relevance to my post. Is it unsafe? How would I know, I don't live there. It is
@Bad Machine who claims that I said that. I can only speak from my local experience where I live. I appreciate his years of recumbent experience but it is just as disrespectful of him to criticise my alleged approach to horses on the basis of no knowledge of my locality as it would be of me to make similar ones about his.
If my local circumstances changed then I would reconsider the flag thing. If I ever get the chance to get away for a few days once the Coronavirus situation eases, probably using more "A" roads, then I would stick a flag up "just because I can".