Trailer towing

[Dillinger86]

I’ve been able to drive a tractor and tow a 14ton trailer on a standard license from 18 years old yet had to to take this trailer license to pull a 1 ton chipper…madness.

about time sense was seen..

[muttley9050]

I’ve been able to drive a tractor and tow a 14ton trailer on a standard license from 18 years old yet had to to take this trailer license to pull a 1 ton chipper…madness.
about time sense was seen..

Having this same conversation with a mate the other day. He regularly drives tractor and botek piled with logs. No training. Can't tow anything behind his pick up though. Crazy System.

[benedmonds]

1 hour ago, Dillinger86 said:

I’ve been able to drive a tractor and tow a 14ton trailer on a standard license from 18 years old yet had to to take this trailer license to pull a 1 ton chipper…madness.

about time sense was seen..

Just because they have stupid rules for farmers doesn't mean it makes sense to get rid of sensible rules for towing.

 

The sensible thing to do would have been to have a training for tractor driving. Kids driving tractors and trailers is frankly scary..

[difflock]

8 hours ago, benedmonds said:

Just because they have stupid rules for farmers doesn't mean it makes sense to get rid of sensible rules for towing.

 

The sensible thing to do would have been to have a training for tractor driving. Kids driving tractors and trailers is frankly scary..

Have you the accident statistics to back that up, how dangerous, or more correctly, how accident causing, the young agricultural drivers are I mean.

Anyway the various insurers will have the statistics based on their liabilty, and the fact that they have not incited the Government to bring in harsher agricultural regulations, simply means there is no need to address this non exstent issue, however anomalous it may appear to be.

Again.

Follow the money. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by difflock

[muttley9050]

Just because they have stupid rules for farmers doesn't mean it makes sense to get rid of sensible rules for towing.
 
The sensible thing to do would have been to have a training for tractor driving. Kids driving tractors and trailers is frankly scary..

I completely agree that's the stand I meant to imply. Not scrap training for all. I've done my b+e and am slightly annoyed and concernedthat they are scrapping it.
Trouble is it's not just farmers. Anyone who wants to use a tractor. Farmers, forestry, firewood,
My mate does firewood and he drives allover to buy /fell standing firewood. Not just on the roads around the farm which I think is where the rules originate.

[Rough Hewn]

I completely agree that's the stand I meant to imply. Not scrap training for all. I've done my b+e and am slightly annoyed and concernedthat they are scrapping it.
Trouble is it's not just farmers. Anyone who wants to use a tractor. Farmers, forestry, firewood,
My mate does firewood and he drives allover to buy /fell standing firewood. Not just on the roads around the farm which I think is where the rules originate.

The whole licensing system is a shambolic mess.
There are dozens of exemptions for forestry and arboculture but aren’t used because it’s all so confusing and contradictory.
I’ve had a dozen different answers from a dozen different people.
Even the police dvla and vosa don’t know the laws regarding…
🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️

[MattyF]

After spending 20 years towing a sub 750kg chipper and reversing off all manor off roads and in to tight drives and driving tractors with forwarding trailers loaded through thinned woods and narrow country lanes I'm pretty sure I don't need to take a test to tow a trailer like most of us ... any one who disagrees Is feeling butt hurt about spending the money or already had it on there licence and that the advantage had helped them make money over competitors ... now it's a level playing Feild.

[doobin]

54 minutes ago, MattyF said:

After spending 20 years towing a sub 750kg chipper and reversing off all manor off roads and in to tight drives and driving tractors with forwarding trailers loaded through thinned woods and narrow country lanes I'm pretty sure I don't need to take a test to tow a trailer like most of us ... any one who disagrees Is feeling butt hurt about spending the money or already had it on there licence and that the advantage had helped them make money over competitors ... now it's a level playing Feild.

Fully agree. We need less regulation not more.

 

Plenty of young lads with souped up Corsas (at least, that what they had when I were a lad! 😀) will have passed a driving test... doesn't mean that you want your daughter in the car with them.

[benedmonds]

1 hour ago, difflock said:

Have you the accident statistics to back that up, how dangerous, or more correctly, how accident causing, the young agricultural drivers are I mean.

Anyway the various insurers will have the statistics based on their liabilty, and the fact that they have not incited the Government to bring in harsher agricultural regulations, simply means there is no need to address this non exstent issue, however anomalous it may appear to be.

Again.

Follow the money. 

It seems logical that young drivers with little training are going to be considerably higher risk and that training would reduce the risk. There are relatively few tractors so will be relatively few incidents but that also means relatively little training would be involved to upskill the young farmers.  However the farming community is a pretty strong lobbying force that resists change especially when it concerns the health and safety and factors that make running small family farms more expensive.

 

Most teenage boys do stupid things.

 

A quick search (as I am not that interested) and I found this research that states:

 

.. young tractor drivers (aged 15 to 24) account for an above-average proportion of accidents compared with this age group‘s share of the population as a whole..

 

https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/9ee83ee8-5013-4910-8c14-7080f0166745/09_2_DE report_UDV-kompakt_RisikoTraktor.pdf

 

 

[scottythepinetree]

On 10/09/2021 at 21:02, ChrisNewport said:

Ive just been reading that people are up in arms about this saying that there will be thousands of more deaths on the roads due to this, an upside down caravan on every corner and a trailer in every ditch. Pre 1997 i dont recall a mass of trailer and caravan accidents.

This may not be directly related to trailers, but on the whole, changes to driving laws and enforcement has had an undeniably positive affect on road traffic accidents since 1997 (and before). Injuries and deaths on the road have been dropping steadily since 1979, despite the number of vehicles on the road increasing. I wonder if the nearsightedness will remain if accidents increase and insurance premiums go up across the board as a result?:
 

1 hour ago, MattyF said:

After spending 20 years towing a sub 750kg chipper and reversing off all manor off roads and in to tight drives and driving tractors with forwarding trailers loaded through thinned woods and narrow country lanes I'm pretty sure I don't need to take a test to tow a trailer like most of us ... any one who disagrees Is feeling butt hurt about spending the money or already had it on there licence and that the advantage had helped them make money over competitors ... now it's a level playing Feild.

An independent test isn't about whether or not you are capable of towing a trailer, it's about proving your competence (and everyone else's) before being allowed to be responsible for towing a trailer on public roads.

It's not some insurmountable obstacle in the way of all the young kids whose dream it is to tow trailers over 750kg. It's an inconvenience far outweighed by the benefits. If there are hold ups and bureaucracy causing unnecessary delays, then that is an issue that needs to be addressed. Every job has barriers to entry. The barriers should reflect the potential earnings, in an ideal world. Where this isn't the case, that too is an area that needs to be looked at.

I can't help but think that this is a populist decision that will ultimately lead to more accidents/fatalities on the roads.