Are the General public completely oblivious to the dangers of large farm machinery?

teslacoils · Jul 25, 2021

kiwi pom said:
Very true but then everyone can be called 'general public' so....
We all do really stupid things sometimes, often we're not even aware we've done them because we got away with it.

The stupidity of one single member of the public is less than the stupidity of a group of the public. The more public you add to a group, the higher the average stupidity becomes. Take swimming in a river - they see one stupid person playing in it, so they decide to do the same.

Peak stupidity is seen in groups of say 12 men on bicycles, or 8 women walking dogs. Or two people on horses.

One stupid on their own may have cause to doubt their stupid actions. The larger the group, the more unified and certain in their stupid each member becomes.

One should look out for tell tale signs that a member of the public is a self-righteous stupid:

1) car will have national trust sticker, sticker that says "I pull over for horses", or be a BMW of any kind.
2) walker will have one of those clear map cases around the necks, Themos of weak lemon drink, and wooly bobble hat in summer.
3) horse rider will be accompanied by (fat) mother riding bike alongside, will be wearing yellow jacket with "polite" written on it to look like police.
4) cyclist will be paying more attention to setting pb that looking at road.

Then add in the "early retired public servant factor" - do they look to be around 55, and be scrawny examples of Betas who have enjoyed a career writing stroppy emails? Also, are you approaching a village with an active parish council, local history society, etc.

If any of these are the case, take a deep breath and hope to avoid meeting anyone.

Ffermer Bach · Jul 25, 2021

Lowland1 said:
My son has been moving machinery around this week. I told him to be very careful and watch out for people doing stupid things and make sure to avoid tailbacks and the like. He has been moving combine headers at times this week and finding anywhere to pull over with a 40 or 45 foot header on a trailer is pretty difficult laybys work but they are pretty far apart however he sent us a video of 60 cars passing him after he pulled off the A15 to let cars go by, all caused by an old lady who wouldn't pass on a clear straight piece of road no matter how much prompting and signalling she was given. So by the time a pullover stop is reached you have a tailback of epic proportions this time though he had nothing on the tractor.

none of this is helped by people parking at the beginning of a layby, so stopping tractors pulling in, or the highways shutting layby's too.

J 1177 · Jul 25, 2021

Phil P said:
It’s not so much of a stand off, more like kamikaze pilots . I think the lockdowns have increased the rate at which people are losing the power to think for themselves.

I had the header trailer on my maxxum infront of my mates combine, flashing lights, hazzard lights the lot. 3 cars did exactly the same thing come hurtling up to me up the grass verge to get around me to be met by the combine who just had to sit there and wait, they dont engage their brains.

J 1177 · Jul 25, 2021

Ye

Cowmansam said:
People are dumb as hell my friend was out in his boat on the Dee saw kids jumping off the road bridge then on his way back the police divers where there trying to find the lad who drowned never did find him

Yep my kids are banned from going anywhere near rivers. Some parents however think its a pretty swiming pool

hoff135 · Jul 25, 2021

Up and down a single track road with a 3000g tank on a tractor and meeting walkers coming towards me. Dead straight road with decent verge, all be it a bit overgrown. I'm 9 feet wide i think and filling the road from side to side. Heading towards them at a decent speed and they just keep walking towards me. Then at the last second they reluctantly decide to stand, not on the verge but the edge of the tar, leaving me no option but to slow down to a crawl and drive up on the opposite verge to get past. Thats happened numerous times on a job im working at.

lloyd · Jul 25, 2021

Quite an few years ago a combine travelling
the local dual carriageway escorted by the header driver
was shunted off the road and down a bank by a
lorry driver on his phone texting .The first the header driver knew was when
he looked in the mirror and saw no combine anywhere but a cloud of smoke.

delilah · Jul 25, 2021

Not read the thread so may have been mentioned, the NFU have just produced large 'keep your distance' stickers for grain trailers, was in SE farmer so may only be for SE ?

Phil P · Jul 25, 2021

J 1177 said:
I had the header trailer on my maxxum infront of my mates combine, flashing lights, hazzard lights the lot. 3 cars did exactly the same thing come hurtling up to me up the grass verge to get around me to be met by the combine who just had to sit there and wait, they dont engage their brains.

Had similar last year, mum in front in the car, long narrow straight with a blind corner at the end. She goes round the corner and gets in the middle of the road to stop traffic only for two cars to squeeze past! They then proceeded to drive all the way up to the front of the combine (hedge on one side fence on the other and no verge), so of course they then have to reverse all the way back the road (can’t reverse

). So what would have meant stopping for less than a minute held every one up for probably 10 minutes!

Goweresque · Jul 25, 2021

melted welly said:
Wonder if the bellend on the bike thought any about his roadsense.

A few months ago near my place I was driving down a road and there's a junction coming up on my right. I'm about 50-100 yards from it in my car doing 40-50. There's another car coming towards me, he's about 20-30 yards from from the turn. Then suddenly this bicycle comes steaming out of the junction, over the dotted give way line at full speed, and turns right. Never slowed down let alone stopped to see what was coming on the road he was turning in to. I was far enough back that I could brake and avoid him relatively easily, the car coming the other way, had he being doing the same speed as me and not turning slowing down to turn left would have wiped him out for sure. There's no way he could see what was on the road ahead, there's tall hedges and the road actually bends back a bit from the junction, its utterly blind. You need to pull up at the line and have a good look before pulling out.

I was so pee'd off that I over took him and stopped, got out and gave him a piece of my mind. I told him that if he'd got a deathwish go and commit suicide in manner that doesn't involve ruining another person's life, otherwise stop behaving like a selfish c**t.

Exfarmer · Jul 25, 2021

Phil P said:
Had similar last year, mum in front in the car, long narrow straight with a blind corner at the end. She goes round the corner and gets in the middle of the road to stop traffic only for two cars to squeeze past! They then proceeded to drive all the way up to the front of the combine (hedge on one side fence on the other and no verge), so of course they then have to reverse all the way back the road (can’t reverse ). So what would have meant stopping for less than a minute held every one up for probably 10 minutes!

I do wonder how many of these commentators do have the recomended escort, with wide vehicle following sign as I think is compulsory for many.
I know this will not stop the idiots coming the other way.
We used to have the widest combine I believe was ever sold in the UK a MF 865 so have had plenty of experience of such issues. The worst was meeting another combine coming the other way on a single track road. The biggest issue there was, he had lost a rear wheel due to no grease in the bearings. It was a TNS demonstrator

perhaps some one on here remembers it? Brand new 38 by memory but it was over 20 years ago. Think we just had to wait and road totally blocked.

glasshouse · Jul 25, 2021

lloyd said:
Quite an few years ago a combine travelling
the local dual carriageway escorted by the header driver
was shunted off the road and down a bank by a
lorry driver on his phone texting .The first the header driver knew was when
he looked in the mirror and saw no combine anywhere but a cloud of smoke.

The escort should be behind the combine on a dual carriageway

Banana Bar · Jul 25, 2021

I think it would help some people if they knew the rules on escorting a wide load. Hazard lights and headlights on a tractor gives no road users any clue that there is a wide load following.

BB

The Seeker · Jul 25, 2021

Had a chap stop and take photos of me mowing the other day he took a few over the hedge then the next time i came around he popped out from behind the hedge and lent on the ground to take a picture from behind the conditioner , i last shat my pants if the tine hand come loose he would have known about it

Phil P · Jul 25, 2021

Exfarmer said:
I do wonder how many of these commentators do have the recomended escort, with wide vehicle following sign as I think is compulsory for many.
I know this will not stop the idiots coming the other way.
We used to have the widest combine I believe was ever sold in the UK a MF 865 so have had plenty of experience of such issues. The worst was meeting another combine coming the other way on a single track road. The biggest issue there was, he had lost a rear wheel due to no grease in the bearings. It was a TNS demonstrator perhaps some one on here remembers it? Brand new 38 by memory but it was over 20 years ago. Think we just had to wait and road totally blocked.

I’ll admit that we’re guilty of not having the specified escort vehicle setup but if I came up to a vehicle in the middle of the road flashing lights and waving out the window to stop at the very least I’d stop and ask if everything was ok rather than squeezing past and speeding on!

Out of interest hands up who gets an exemption from the police for moving the combine? We have to notify 3 different forces as we cross into there jurisdictions, it’s a task in its self!

lloyd · Jul 25, 2021

glasshouse said:
The escort should be behind the combine on a dual carriageway

Your on form today but too late for him as he let the farm out soon afterwards.

lloyd · Jul 25, 2021

Phil P said:
I’ll admit that we’re guilty of not having the specified escort vehicle setup but if I came up to a vehicle in the middle of the road flashing lights and waving out the window to stop at the very least I’d stop and ask if everything was ok rather than squeezing past and speeding on!

Out of interest hands up who gets an exemption from the police for moving the combine? We have to notify 3 different forces as we cross into there jurisdictions, it’s a task in its self!

You'd be inside the white line on a tracked?

Sid · Jul 25, 2021

Davey said:
It never ceases to amaze me how many people walk down lanes with their back to oncoming traffic, often with headphones in

But there out enjoying the peace and quiet of the countryside

glasshouse said:
Earphones should be banned on the highway and footpaths

And in cars!

hoff135 said:
Up and down a single track road with a 3000g tank on a tractor and meeting walkers coming towards me. Dead straight road with decent verge, all be it a bit overgrown. I'm 9 feet wide i think and filling the road from side to side. Heading towards them at a decent speed and they just keep walking towards me. Then at the last second they reluctantly decide to stand, not on the verge but the edge of the tar, leaving me no option but to slow down to a crawl and drive up on the opposite verge to get past. Thats happened numerous times on a job im working at.

I wouldn't go on the verge myself.

delilah said:
Not read the thread so may have been mentioned, the NFU have just produced large 'keep your distance' stickers for grain trailers, was in SE farmer so may only be for SE ?

The NFU doing something useful, well I never, bit like the support of farm safety week.

Perhaps the CLA have produced stickers as well?

lloyd · Jul 25, 2021

glasshouse said:
The escort should be behind the combine on a dual carriageway

Having thought about it if your on an A road and it turns
to dual carriageway for a short period you dont have much option.

Ffermer Bach · Jul 25, 2021

lloyd said:
Having thought about it if your on an A road and it turns
to dual carriageway for a short period you dont have much option.

funniest thing I have seen "escorted" here was a static caravan being pulled by a Landrover down the road, with someone in the caravan too! I have no idea how many laws they were breaking? No brakes on the caravan, someone in it while being towed?

7610 super q · Jul 25, 2021

The Seeker said:
Had a chap stop and take photos of me mowing the other day he took a few over the hedge then the next time i came around he popped out from behind the hedge and lent on the ground to take a picture from behind the conditioner , i last shat my pants if the tine hand come loose he would have known about it

I shudder when I'm out topping at a neighbour's place and the occupants of the holiday cottage complex bring their kids out and line them up along the hedgebank to watch......
Always go to the other end of the field and do that first, hoping they'll have disappeared after half an hour......

Are the General public completely oblivious to the dangers of large farm machinery?

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