tractor speed limits, a consultation

[Rich2484]

A few more accidents and it wont be long before a focus group gets hold of it. If the industry self regulates and sorts itself out now will be better than being pushed into it. Keep under the radar they will leave you alone shout on a forum about what you are up to they wont. The authorities catch more people on face book now than you could imagine. Do a search on google with the words fastrak and speed you will probably find your post on here and so will they.

 

Good. I would like to see the law changed. It needs to be changed. No two ways about it. If you can't drive a car then what's to say you can drive a heavy machine....?

[Stubby]

Good. I would like to see the law changed. It needs to be changed. No two ways about it. If you can't drive a car then what's to say you can drive a heavy machine....?

 

You got to be able to say " Get orf moy laand "

[TRADITIONAL LOGGERS]

I learned to drive in fields on a Grey Fergie. Took a tractor test before PLG test and driven with no accidents since. (no parking/speedingbtickets) The experience gained with large machine served me well and there are numerous idiots on the road who are heading towards retirement age.

I am told MOT's are due in 2014 on all trailers over 750 GVW and some tractors are a disgrace and dangerous to be on a public road. 40mph is fine with a well serviced unit and secure load. 20mph too slow and causes traffic rage.

[Matthew Storrs]

I learned to drive in fields on a Grey Fergie. Took a tractor test before PLG test and driven with no accidents since. (no parking/speedingbtickets) The experience gained with large machine served me well and there are numerous idiots on the road who are heading towards retirement age.

I am told MOT's are due in 2014 on all trailers over 750 GVW and some tractors are a disgrace and dangerous to be on a public road. 40mph is fine with a well serviced unit and secure load. 20mph too slow and causes traffic rage.

 

 

I find the 40/50kph tractors are in a way worse than a 30kph, at least a 30 is reletively easy to overtake on a short bit of road whereas the quicker are doing an annoying speed- not quite fast enough to get anywhere quickly but too quick to overtake unless you have a nice straight section.

I agree that tractors should have an MOT and I drive a tractor a lot on the road so I'm not bias. Not being able to tow a 3500kg trailer behind a pickup but then be able to tow 10ton legally behind a tractor is also madness. One or the other IMO

[TRADITIONAL LOGGERS]

HGV's should be doing 40mph on rural roads but most don't. The problem is people often work miles from home so rush along and the people driving tractors often have no where to pull over to allow passing. The cost of food would increase should more restrictions come to Agriculture. Training and roadside checks would help. VOSA active in Derbyshire.

[haforbes]

Good. I would like to see the law changed. It needs to be changed. No two ways about it. If you can't drive a car then what's to say you can drive a heavy machine....?

 

Time for a farmer grumble!

 

More to the point, if you CAN drive a car what's to say you can drive heavy machinery?? How many people who have a driving licence can actually drive a car safely? Just because someone has some chainsaw tickets doesn't mean they can use a saw...it's just a piece of paper at the end of the day.

 

Even if they did change the law, all of the older generation would most likely be unaffected. And it's the older generation who more than often the dangerous ones in my experience, probably because they grew up driving tractors when you could pretty much get away with anything.

 

Very often I get a phone call because I've got a delivery on a 7.5 ton lorry waiting at the end of my track because in their opinion "theres no way i'm going to fit down there!" normally they're the older generation. yet I had an artic lorry come with a delivery a few months ago, it was pitch black and he had no idea where he was going. He drove the lorry through the gateway at the end of the drive inch perfect, dropped the load off then span the lorry round in the yard (again the 7.5 ton drivers somehow can't manage it). The lad driving was 18, his dad was farmer and he started driving the lorries and tractors around the farm when he was just a young lad.

 

It's the experience that counts, not the qualifications.

 

And yes the farm machinery has gotten a lot larger over the years and yes there's lots of young lads driving the kit. Lets say average 200hp tractor and trailers worth £100k+, if it was you machine, would you let a young lad drive it if he wasn't competent?

 

Rant Over

[gensetsteve]

Where do you start on a post like this. Alot of good points maybe a bit too much generalisation.

 

A licence or ticket says you have had some tuition and hopefully reached a minimum standard to operate that piece of kit. No substitute for more experience.

 

All generations can be safe or dangerous the old boys can be careless and slow to react. The young dont have a sense of self preservation till they hit 25 limited only by how much they can open the governor.

 

The owner driver of an £80,000 truck is unlikely to want to scratch the paint and rip the mirrors of just to deliver your pallet. The employed driver with an 8 year old wreck wont give a toss.

 

I think alot of farmers dont really give a toss if a young lad is competant as long as they sit in the cab for 16 hrs for peanuts. The kit is insured. Unfortunately its the lives of my wife and kids that is at risk sharing the roads.

 

I think the idea is to slow down your not answer an emergency or putting out a fire. Its low value agricultral goods.

 

Remember you may not get hurt in the accident but you will when the husband comes round to see you.

 

 

Time for a farmer grumble!

 

More to the point, if you CAN drive a car what's to say you can drive heavy machinery?? How many people who have a driving licence can actually drive a car safely? Just because someone has some chainsaw tickets doesn't mean they can use a saw...it's just a piece of paper at the end of the day.

 

Even if they did change the law, all of the older generation would most likely be unaffected. And it's the older generation who more than often the dangerous ones in my experience, probably because they grew up driving tractors when you could pretty much get away with anything.

 

Very often I get a phone call because I've got a delivery on a 7.5 ton lorry waiting at the end of my track because in their opinion "theres no way i'm going to fit down there!" normally they're the older generation. yet I had an artic lorry come with a delivery a few months ago, it was pitch black and he had no idea where he was going. He drove the lorry through the gateway at the end of the drive inch perfect, dropped the load off then span the lorry round in the yard (again the 7.5 ton drivers somehow can't manage it). The lad driving was 18, his dad was farmer and he started driving the lorries and tractors around the farm when he was just a young lad.

 

It's the experience that counts, not the qualifications.

 

And yes the farm machinery has gotten a lot larger over the years and yes there's lots of young lads driving the kit. Lets say average 200hp tractor and trailers worth £100k+, if it was you machine, would you let a young lad drive it if he wasn't competent?

 

Rant Over

[nepia]

I think alot of farmers dont really give a toss if a young lad is competant as long as they sit in the cab for 16 hrs for peanuts. The kit is insured. Unfortunately its the lives of my wife and kids that is at risk sharing the roads.

 

Not sure how much notice to take of the 'biggrin' that was at the end of that but the above couldn't be further from the truth in my limited farming experience.

The farmers I encountered were happy for 'A' to be on the road with the big tractor and new silage cart because he was competent and responsible but wouldn't let 'that idiot B' near it.

At the end of the 70s (when almost anything went? - not) I worked on a Ducal estate in Sussex and only 3 or 4 guys were allowed to take the big tractors on the road and that wasn't for insurance reasons, it was because the farm manager and foremen were responsible people who showed discretion.

[agrimog]

a lot of urban myths comming out here today, now some facts, tractors are limited to 20mph...by the road traffic act, tractors are described by the construction and use regulations, nothing to do with brakes, its all about suspension, try reading it, there are age restrictions on tractors the same as all other vehicles, and weight restrictions. (21 is the magic age for most driving things, ) anybody who operates a tractor on the road needs to read, and actually be aware of what the law actually says because it only takes one police orifice who knows and your licencse is gone

[Rich2484]

My very first tractor driving experience.

 

A John Deere, 7810, with huge silage trailer on the back. Up and down the lanes and a busy main road.

 

Stalled the tractor pulling out of a junction and it took forever to get it going again due to the gearing controls being part electronic.

 

Sat at the junction with traffic building up either side.

 

I then went onto pulling 7 furrow ploughs, combi drill/power harrow, grain trailers and bale trailers.

 

On my last job the farmer brought a huge sub spoiler that weighed around 4t on a 3 point linkage on a jd 8100, with front weights if you pulled away too quick the front would lift and you would lose steering, plus it would leave a big mess on the Tarmac behind. I done this once.

 

And most of this was on a learner license,

 

Yet an older driver done it almost every time. There are marks in almost every gateway now when I drive past.

 

So yes I have seen both good and bad, and I can safely say that the law needs to be changed.

 

You can't pull a big trailer without a license, you can't go in a 7.5t anymore. So why be able to drive easily what is effectively an arctic lorry on the road with leaner plates????