Journalist Karen Rutherford campaigns for safer roads

Newshub reporter Karen Rutherford faces a long road to recovery from injuries suffered in a car crash.

Journalist Karen Rutherford is recovering from a horrific accident in August, which killed her daughter's horse and caused her serious physical and psychological damage.

Eleven weeks on, the Newshub journalist is putting her mind to how she can help prevent similar incidents happening to others.

Rutherford and her daughter Ella, 13, were riding on Postman Rd in Dairy Flat, in Auckland's north, when a car allegedly struck George, the horse she was on, throwing Rutherford into the windscreen.

The 43-year-old's leg catapulted into her head, the force of which teared the skin and tissue away from the muscle, almost ripping her leg off.

She also suffered multiple broken bones and gashes.

Rutherford has revealed she is now getting behind a petition launched a week after the accident, to change the current legislation that surrounds riding horses on roads.

The petition by NZ Horses Network to Minister of Transport Simon Bridges is pleading with the Government to match Australian laws, including a 20km speed limit when passing horses and allowing riders on footpaths and grass verges.

The Horse Network also wants the act of hitting or killing a horse that is being ridden, to be made a legal offence.

Current legislation means "no one will ever be held accountable for the death of George," said Rutherford.

"He wasn't just your average horse. He was a brilliant all round show jumper and really well loved.

"What upsets me is that my daughter has been affected. It was her horse ... killed right before her eyes."

Rutherford said there has been an "explosion" of urban boundaries as more people move to rural areas, with many unaware of how to drive on rural roads.

"People forget that rural roads are not racetracks ... you get big trucks barreling past you. People have to slow down around horses and give the horse and rider one and a half metres berth. People don't get that.

"Horses riders are road users too."

The petition is appealing to all road users, not just horse riders said Rutherford.

It has received more than 3000 signatures so far.

Rutherford returned to her home in Dairy Flat, 100m from the scene of the accident, after two weeks in hospital.

"It has taken 11 weeks for me to feel comfortable leaving the house or driving in a car ... I have lost all of my confidence."

The journalist said that her long road to recovery continues, with open wounds between her knee and ankle and her right leg remaining in a full length brace, necessitating the use of crutches.

"I am a pretty strong person but this has completely knocked me out of the park.

"I have been up, down, high and low ... I am in pain one minute and the next I feel like I am making progress."

She is also experiencing "overwhelming" flashbacks.

"I will never get over it I don't think," she said.

Rutherford is awaiting a CT scan after neurological tests this week showed one side of her brain is functioning slower than the other side.

Peng Wang, a 28-year-old Chinese national, has pleaded not guilty to charges of careless driving causing injury in relation to the incident.