Are modern agricultural trailers safe?...

[24/7 farming]

Had a jaunt out in the car this morning and along the way came in behind a pretty fresh looking flatbed trailer sailing along behind a mf at about 50k. All the do das on it... big floaty tyres, led lights and flashers etc, and even some sort of what I assumed is a pushing frame bolted to the back of the chassis (spud boxes on board so probably for if the going gets tough when harvesting)
Sailed along for another bit and then I realised if something were to happen and I ended up going into the back of that trailer, the first point of contact between my car and that trailer would be my windscreen, and I would say by the time my front bumper would get to the tyres the fancy led lights would be somewhere around the backseat having peeled the roof and probably my head of as they went!
Lorries etc all have to have the skirts, or whatever they r called, by law am I right in thinking?, I assume agricultural trailers are exempt? surely the height and speed of alot of these modern trailers should have some requirements for protection of other road users?
The thought of something like that ever happening give me a shudder today anyway

 

[Tractortech]

Hmmmm,,,, good point!!

 

[llamedos]

Yes, Ag trailers are exempt.
Side and rear protection bars were brought in to protect pedestrians and cyclists from going under wheels, not other motorists from going under vehicles or trailers iirc.

 

[Mc115reed]

Well if you drive under said trailer and have your head peeled off.... I'm sorry but that's your fault not the tractor drivers.....

 

[Tractortech]

Now Then..
Section 49 onwards if anyone is interested....
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/made

 

[Philip Watkins]

Now Then..
Section 49 onwards if anyone is interested....
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/made

 

[24/7 farming]

Well if you drive under said trailer and have your head peeled off.... I'm sorry but that's your fault not the tractor drivers.....

Believe me I have or had no intention of driving under said trailer!, but accidents do and will happen. It was only that I was stuck behind it for a while, otherwise I probably would never have really noticed how big they have become!, I'm usually the one in the tractor infront of them

 

[Grouse]

Well if you drive under said trailer and have your head peeled off.... I'm sorry but that's your fault not the tractor drivers.....

Unless he pulls out in front of you when he shouldn't...

 

[Daddy Pig]

this happened on the A303 last week near Wincanton, don't know what happened to the poor sod in the car but it looked very nasty.

 

[Zippy768]

It is slightly worrying that ag vehicles are exempt for so much. Weights and speed are so much more than they ever use to be.
Sometimes I think we fall into a vacuum with regards legislation on roads.
The following few months the roads will become littered with tractors and drivers banging on at 50k with big loads, having work 16 hours a day for weeks on end. Yet lorry drivers don't get an inch with tachometers. Not advocating red tape and work hour limits but it does make you think

 

[Tarw Coch]

Both my relatively modern flat trailers have side impact bars but no back bar although on the wheels they are on they don't sit particularly high.
Due to the terrain Ag trailers are sometimes used in it is relatively easy to ground the back of the trailer anyway so I don't see a practical way of putting rear impact bars on mine, perhaps as I've said because they sit relatively low anyway.

Edit just walked past the JPM and the back is down to the bottom of the side impact bars anyway.

 

[mtx.jag]

Yes, Ag trailers are exempt.
Side and rear protection bars were brought in to protect pedestrians and cyclists from going under wheels, not other motorists from going under vehicles or trailers iirc.

I'm sure there has been a thread/argument on this subject in the past..

 

[Dukes Fit]

I've seen a car underneath an artic trailer having run in to the back of it, the rear protection doesn't help much.
The chassis rails hit the headrest of the drivers seat ..... gruesome as it sounds, it's what saved the drivers life.

 

[Bloders]

I've seen a car underneath an artic trailer having run in to the back of it, the rear protection doesn't help much.
The chassis rails hit the headrest of the drivers seat ..... gruesome as it sounds, it's what saved the drivers life.

according to someone i know, its a common form of suicide to drive at speed under a HGV trailer parked up in a layby. One of the tell tale signs is the driver not wearing a seat belt.
Very sad