Roadwork; is hacking out still safe?

There's a petition going around currently, asking for support to make the 15mph speed limit when passing horses on the highway to be made law.
In theory, it would potentially reduce 'near misses' and accidents to almost zero, but in practice, how would it really work?

Hi-viz gear is vital for hacking on the roads

Anyone who hacks on rural roads will know all about the following:
1. Car drivers in a huge hurry, who don't understand that horses will sink into very wet verges, or worse, fall into ditches, if they move off the tarmac. So they whizz by, far too close, revving engines as gears change and if something is coming the other way - well all riders who ride on the roads have experienced that particular heart-stopping moment!
2. Tractor drivers - and if they are agricultural contracters they are more than likely to be talking on the mobile phone to their workmate, dad or the boss about what time it is and where they need to be by when. Not looking where they're going - no they aren't - and quite happy to flout the mobile phone laws. If they have a huge implement or slurry tanker on the back, it's another potential accident in the making. On very narrow roads, there can hardly be room to pass at all!
3. Lorries - delivery drivers in vehicles that are truly too large for small rural roads and who live in urban areas, so lack even basic rural 'commonsense'. Often lost, they are best described as portable roadblocks and whenever they meet another vehicle, the verges are mashed up and there is slippery mud all over the road...

So with this backdrop and the obvious disregard of the mobile phone laws by too many drivers in rural areas - is it realistic to think that a 15mph law is going to make any SIGNIFICANT difference to equine road safety?
The individuals who are the current problem won't see any need to change their behaviour, because they aren't considerate drivers now! A new law could not be policed, unless perhaps a large herd of police horses went hacking in 'plain clothes' all over the country, but wearing a hat camera could help you with the legal fight after the worst has happened. If you're lucky and there's a near miss, how much notice is going to be taken though, given how far the already meagre police resources are stretched. Whatever develops, the game of 'roulette' that accompanies hacking on the roads unfortunately looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.

There's some pratical advice for those who do hack out at this time of year in the December issue of Equine magazine. Read the digital edition online at
http://content.yudu.com/Library/A41nvn/EquineDecemberissue2/