Wreckers!!

Phil P

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North West
While cameras are good for front mounted equipment you don’t even need to go through the expense of that. My Dad put a wide angle lorry mirror set on our front weights set at 45 degrees so you can see around a corner from the cab. Simple, cheap, and saved plenty of near misses over the years. I would hate to drive around with any front mounted equipment without any blind spot aid and in my mind It’s irresponsible of us farmers to think other road users will see us creeping out and move/stop. Like with the BMW and front mower above, that was an accident waiting to happen.
From my experience, If a car or van driver sees a tractor creeping out of a side road or field they actually accelerate to try and get past before the tractor gets out in front of them! It’s not that they don’t see it!
 
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Pennine Ploughing

Member
Mixed Farmer
So you take your attachments off the telehandler before you go on the road? And move your front weights separately?
If it comes to that, perhaps all mounted implements should be banned on the road due to the tailswing?
Is it 90mph they say a 5f plough moves when turning?
So you would be happy to have your car damaged by a front mounted implement, farmers cannot self regulate, so it just needs a size restrictions put on them to stop it
 

Andrew

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Huntingdon, UK
So you would be happy to have your car damaged by a front mounted implement, farmers cannot self regulate, so it just needs a size restrictions put on them to stop it

If it was the above situation then to me it looks like the front mower made no difference, the tractor driver wouldn’t be able to see until his bonnet was out in the road. So the car would have just hit the front wheel instead.

I like to think I’d see the tractor edging out and stop which I do quite often anyway.

I have to say if you drive with a front mower or implement you drive a lot more cautiously, it looks wide and you see the bounce so you drive carefully and considerately. Put the same implement on the back and the tractor driver forgets it‘s there and goes full tilt, the car drivers don’t see it as easily and the sides get ripped out of cars, seen no end of accidents like that.

Just look at that video a while back of the 3m powerharrow on a JD swerving everywhere. If that had been on the front it would have been a lot safer.
 

Hfd Cattle

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Hereford
If it was the above situation then to me it looks like the front mower made no difference, the tractor driver wouldn’t be able to see until his bonnet was out in the road. So the car would have just hit the front wheel instead.

I like to think I’d see the tractor edging out and stop which I do quite often anyway.

I have to say if you drive with a front mower or implement you drive a lot more cautiously, it looks wide and you see the bounce so you drive carefully and considerately. Put the same implement on the back and the tractor driver forgets it‘s there and goes full tilt, the car drivers don’t see it as easily and the sides get ripped out of cars, seen no end of accidents like that.

Just look at that video a while back of the 3m powerharrow on a JD swerving everywhere. If that had been on the front it would have been a lot safer.
A good many of our gateways we have to quietly edge out . It never ceases to amaze me how many vehicles will swerve dangerously into oncoming traffic rather than stop and let you out . I suspect with the mower incident the car drivers attention was elsewhere .
 

Pennine Ploughing

Member
Mixed Farmer
If it was the above situation then to me it looks like the front mower made no difference, the tractor driver wouldn’t be able to see until his bonnet was out in the road. So the car would have just hit the front wheel instead.

I like to think I’d see the tractor edging out and stop which I do quite often anyway.

I have to say if you drive with a front mower or implement you drive a lot more cautiously, it looks wide and you see the bounce so you drive carefully and considerately. Put the same implement on the back and the tractor driver forgets it‘s there and goes full tilt, the car drivers don’t see it as easily and the sides get ripped out of cars, seen no end of accidents like that.

Just look at that video a while back of the 3m powerharrow on a JD swerving everywhere. If that had been on the front it would have been a lot safer.
Nope, I have seen the likes of a 4 round bale carrier in front links and trailer on behind, with 4 round bales on the front the forward vision is very much restricted and this was on a duel carriageway, not out in the sticks a couple of hundred yards down the road, and what is seeming more common is an 8 foot plus front buckrake, with no protection what so ever, then there is also a growing number of pipe reeler on the front, next thing will be running a front mounted twin rota rake, sticking 20 foot forward of links, for rowing up while baling,
None of these offer much forward vision for driver, and safety on the road is dramatically reduced, for themselves and other road users,
Therefore as I said before, farmers will not self regulate, and so should be a size restriction put in place, so the likes of front weights are ok, but no wider than the front wheels, and a max projected distance forward of the front wheels as well,

No other industries get away with it, so why should farmers, I know of a lorry that went for test, and failed because of a hex head bolt holding a side rail on, it had to be replaced with a cup head bolt and retested, you would not see a skip wagon riding about with a skip on the front, and a car with a sharp edge on the front would fail,

Road safety in agriculture is getting better in general, but agricultural is just pushing the limits further every year, and not self regulating at all,

Oh and before anyone starts going on about me being anti farmer, no I am not,
Farmer do a good job for food production and rural economy, just be a bit more sensible what you do on the road
 

Dman2

Member
Location
Durham, UK
I think it`s time you needed a proper licence to drive a tractor.
Something like a car test with lessons then a full test afterwards for new drivers
Tractors arn`t what they used to be, lot faster higher and heavier
 

Half Pipe

Member
Front mower may not of helped in that particular incident.
But once out on the road on coming traffic see the front mower width easily! can still remember going round a left hand bend with a trailed mower and meeting a motor bike coming at speed, thankfully he spotted mower in time and was able to avoid it.
 

Davey

Member
Location
Derbyshire
Too fast, bale spike sticking straight out and no front wheel braking?
Only defence was there any oil/diesel spillage at that corner?

More likely inexperience to know roads are slick in the wet after prolonged dry spells.

Crazy really when they could have easily just carried on down the main road when they realised they weren't going to make the corner.
 

Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
The mower is only 2-3ft into the carriageway. Any competent driver, driving within his abilities, should have been able to avoid hitting it. There must be tens of thousands of field gateways and private drives where the tractor or car has to poke his "nose" out that far before they have a clear view of the road.

So u drive everywhere at 5mph then in the car?
 

Andrew

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Huntingdon, UK
Nope, I have seen the likes of a 4 round bale carrier in front links and trailer on behind, with 4 round bales on the front the forward vision is very much restricted and this was on a duel carriageway, not out in the sticks a couple of hundred yards down the road, and what is seeming more common is an 8 foot plus front buckrake, with no protection what so ever, then there is also a growing number of pipe reeler on the front, next thing will be running a front mounted twin rota rake, sticking 20 foot forward of links, for rowing up while baling,
None of these offer much forward vision for driver, and safety on the road is dramatically reduced, for themselves and other road users,
Therefore as I said before, farmers will not self regulate, and so should be a size restriction put in place, so the likes of front weights are ok, but no wider than the front wheels, and a max projected distance forward of the front wheels as well,

There allready is regulations. If others choose to disobey then nothing will stop them until there is a crackdown.
A blanket ban on front implements is daft though, as they are a valuable tool and can be made safe and within the laws.
 

GeorgeK

Member
Location
Leicestershire
More likely inexperience to know roads are slick in the wet after prolonged dry spells.

Crazy really when they could have easily just carried on down the main road when they realised they weren't going to make the corner.
With the brakes locked up there's no steering, no means to counter the spin. He might have made it or at least not flipped if he'd let off them to regain control.
I would have been shouting "Off the brakes! Off the brakes!"
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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