COUNCILLORS on Dartmoor are planning glow in the dark ponies to help prevent the animals being hit by drivers at night-time.

Dartmoor Forest parish councillors have ordered fluorescent collars for the world-famous ponies to help them stand out in the dark.

They have been inspired by the success of a similar successful scheme in the New Forest, where concerned residents lobbied for the move — and suggested giving their ponies a stripe of fluorescent paint to make them more visible after nightfall, following a scheme trialled on Dartmoor around six years ago.

Parish councillors on Dartmoor dreamed up their scheme as the numbers of moorland animals killed in road traffic accidents continued to mount. They put the idea on hold until funding became available and put in an order for the collars, which shine in the dark when picked out by a motorist’s headlights, when they received a grant from police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez.

Parish councillor Greg Manning, who also coordinates a Speedwatch group in the Princetown area, said the number of animal fatalities on the moor had risen alarmingly.

He said: ‘We’ve been told of 800 cases in the last six years where an animal has been killed in a traffic accident - and that’s the ones we know about. What we don’t know about is the number of animals who have been hit and wandered off to die an agonising death somewhere.’

Cllr Manning said ponies, because of their colour, were difficult to pick out at night even if motorists were observing the 40mph speed limit across Dartmoor.

He said he had been involved in an accident where he had been dazzled by an oncoming motorist’s headlights while travelling at a safe speed and spotted a pony at the last moment.

Cllr Manning swerved to avoid the animal and managed to collide with the only rock in the area, causing around £1,000 worth of damage to his car.

He said: ‘As a parish council, we come up with ideas and keep them until we’ve got some funds, which we received from the police and crime commissioner’s office.

‘The money has allowed us to buy the collars, some signs and a new (speed) camera and we are waiting for the collars to arrive.

‘It works in the New Forest, where the number of animal deaths have decreased. It’s not only the number of animals which are killed, it’s about the cost, because goodness knows how much is spent on accidents when you take into consideration calling out an ambulance, the police and going to hospital.’

Cllr Manning said his Speedwatch group had clocked vehicles travelling at 60-70mph across the moor, with one recorded doing 84mph despite the driver’s attempt to slow down when he saw the Speedwatch cameras.

He said: ‘I’m not pretending I’m a saint and am completely law-abiding when I am driving. I don’t think any of us are. But we have clocked 35 per cent of cars doing in excess of 57mph. During covid, the group couldn’t get out, but before the numbers were down quite a lot.’

‘An animal doesn’t understand the highway code and it makes me shudder to think what can happen if you are in collision with three to four hundredweight of beef. Probably you and the animal wouldn’t survive it.’