Do you know what to do if you encounter a horse on the road?

QUEENSLAND’S Department of Transport has posed an obscure question, testing to see what motorists would do if they encountered a horse on the road.

YOU are driving along a road and come across a person riding a horse. The horse appears to be agitated by the sound of the car and the rider is having trouble getting the animal under control.

What do you do?

If your first thought was to quickly move around the animal then you could be facing a $2600 fine.

Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads posed this scenario to its Twitter followers to see who knew about this obscure rule and the correct way to handle the situation.

It posted a picture of a person riding a horse while making a hand single to a car behind them.

You know your road rules, and now’s your chance to prove it.

The rider's signalling that they're having trouble controlling their horse. What must the driver of the orange car do? pic.twitter.com/gR3swu0eTO

— Transport Main Roads (@TMRQld) July 16, 2018

“You know your road rules, and now’s your chance to prove it,” read the caption on the image.

“The rider’s signalling that they’re having trouble controlling their horse. What must the driver of the orange car do?”

The correct answer is, in order to avoid spooking the horse the driver must pull over to the side of the road and turn off the engine.

“It’s for the rider’s safety, the horse’s safety, and for yours”, the Twitter post read.

Horses are considered vehicles under Australian law and therefore able to be ridden on the road.

If horses are common along a certain road a yellow sign will often be present showing a person riding a horse, in order to warn drivers to drive carefully.

This sign lets drivers know that horses are commonly ridden along the road.

Other states have similar rules about giving adequate space to horses and riders on the road, but in Queensland if you are caught flouting this rule it comes with a hefty cost.

The state’s law says that if the driver ignores the rider’s signal of raising a hand and pointing to the horse and instead passes the “restive animal” they could incur a maximum penalty of 20 units — equal to $2611.

In order to avoid this fine, drivers must stop the car and “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”.

Most of the responders to the quiz had a pretty good idea about what to do when encountering a horse on the road, with some poking fun at the obscure question.

“Most bogans will reply: Accelerate past the horse at full throttle in your ute making sure to scream obscenities at the rider and/or throw a beer bottle followed by a middle finger salute,” one person commented.

Another person added to the comment by saying people would likely be yelling “Bet that horse hasn’t paid rego” and “Why wasn’t it painted high viz?” while speeding past the animal.