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

[Drillman]

5) Farmer so busy looking over the hedge to see what his neighbour(s) is/are doing that his Landrover/Pick Up/ Gator meanders across the highway/lane

6) other unnecessary distractions ...

View attachment 976082

Ah I see the problem there,

needs more speed before hitting the ramp, Motorbike be better

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Blame the Cyclist why dont we , I had a tanker behind me this morning, so got off and stood in the ditch , he never ever said thank you , the first think that should be tought is some basic manners .
Thanks
I suppose no one goes to chapel anymore so they think they can get away with using the strange words to insult people [emoji1787]

 

[essexpete]

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.

That did make me laugh.

 

[essexpete]

Labelling ''The general public'' as ''Fukkin Idiots'' does little for the image of agriculture. Most of us have grown up with machinery and large animals yet the industry has a poor track record for safety and accidents. Most of the above problems stem from childhoods without any sense of self preservation being learnt/ taught in the right areas. Couple that with a sense of entitlement and impatience, then there is a problem. At least some of us on here at some point are guilty of one of the above.
Perhaps rural tv program makers should be approached by an agricultural lobby to actually highlight some of the problems that are encountered in this thread and to point out the risks. I doubt you will educate some of those standing/sitting on the cliff edge.

 

[glasshouse]

Labelling ''The general public'' as ''Fukkin Idiots'' does little for the image of agriculture. Most of us have grown up with machinery and large animals yet the industry has a poor track record for safety and accidents. Most of the above problems stem from childhoods without any sense of self preservation being learnt/ taught in the right areas. Couple that with a sense of entitlement and impatience, then there is a problem. At least some of us on here at some point are guilty of one of the above.
Perhaps rural tv program makers should be approached by an agricultural lobby to actually highlight some of the problems that are encountered in this thread and to point out the risks. I doubt you will educate some of those standing/sitting on the cliff edge.

Clarkson should do it

 

[Angus]

Yesterday driving along a quiet country road. My lane was clear, the other had cars parked outside of the houses, always the case . Cyclists approaching the parked cars, the convention is to wait for traffic to pass by on the clear lane and then the waiting vehicles may negotiate the obstacle. They did not slow down nor wait, but passed the cars putting themselves within a couple of feet of me. I would imagine that at least half of them drive a car.

Had I driven within two feet of them I would be guilty of an offence. People have no patience and very little consideration for others. They are entitled and always right, but seldom correct.

To add balance, there are some great people out there and we are all the general public at some time.
People do need educating about the risks in life and society would be a better place if manners, courtesy and consideration for others were part of the school curriculum rather than the push for more university undergraduates who then cannot find a suitable or relevant job.

As @GeorgeK mentioned,

Youth is passing kids by, replaced with a narcissistic virtual reality of Instagram filters and dreams of becoming 'influencers.'

we no longer live in a world where respect for one another is accorded, people turn their noses up at manual labour and it seems a lot of peoples lives are vacuous. So not a lot of hope there, but hope at the moment is all that we have, Angus.

 

[Lowland1]

According to all this everybody except farmers are stupid. So we all know to keep clear of them all.

 

[Highland Mule]

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.

Presumably that would be known from route planning? What’s to stop having an escort front and back?

 

[76masseyman]

According to all this everybody except farmers are stupid. So we all know to keep clear of them all.

Sadly, there are a few farmers and some others in agriculture that I, and other locals, know to keep clear of !

 

[Lowland1]

Sadly, there are a few farmers and some others in agriculture that I, and other locals, know to keep clear of !

Years ago my brother was turning right across a busy road with a Ford 6600 and two wheel trailer. The van behind him stopped but was pushed into the trailer by the following car. No one was hurt but both following vehicles were badly damaged. The van was driven by our local self employed mechanic who was on his way to fetch parts for our forklift he was repairing. The ensuing courtcase ( which our insurer won ) went on for about two years and caused quite a bit of ill feeling with someone we relied on. Since then i am doubly careful with tractors and machinery on the road any mistake can be very expensive.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Presumably that would be known from route planning? What’s to stop having an escort front and back?

Surely the escort vehicle can pull over just before it becomes a dual carriageway and let the combine go in front and escort from behind, then as is becomes single carriageway again, overtake and nip in front, it's not as if those escorting don't know the road is it. When I used to escort years ago, we knew where to stop the traffic as the road was narrow.

 

[lloyd]

Presumably that would be known from route planning? What’s to stop having an escort front and back?

Why make a small job of it great public sector thinking.

 

[2wheels]

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.

unfortunately? pedestrians have right of way even if they don't have any sense.

 

[Chae1]

Push bikers are a law unto themselves. I was following one on a single track road this morning I had a silage trailer on back. He kindly pulled in and let me past. I continued on my journey and met 2 young girls on horses, they'd stopped at a passing place to let me past. I slowed right down to pass them. One of the horses got a bit anxious and ran back up road. So I turned off engine so there was no noise and they could pass me safely. Cyclist who had been stopped at back of trailer and seen incident unfold then decided to overtake me and spooked both horses again!

 

[Exfarmer]

unfortunately? pedestrians have right of way even if they don't have any sense.

Common law, sail before steam!

 

[delilah]

Clarkson should do it

That the same Clarkson who has made a career out of normalizing driving like a dick ? The same Clarkson who said it is basically ok to throw your car around the countryside across farmers fields, because it's good fun ?

 

[Cowcorn]

A few of days ago while combining a field with a footpath alone one side I had a very near miss with a member of the public!
The footpath was clear as I’d started cutting along it andI was chopping the straw so a lot of dust blowing towards the path.
Well, a woman had walked at pace and got into my blind spot trying overtake the machine and getting totally covered in chaff in the process.
Anyway as I got to the corner and started to reverse the header came within inches of flattening her . Luckily I saw her at the very last minute, but she was totally obvious to the danger she was putting herself in for the sake of not holding back for what would have been less than a minute.

Then today as I was turning left off the main road with the combine I had a car almost run into the back of the combine as yet again they couldn’t wait for a few seconds!

Then I was then told of a couple incident locally over the past few days involving combines, one involving a motorcyclist that ended really badly .

Is more public education desperately needed about the dangers of large ag machines not only on the road but in the field also?
Everyone seems to be so impatient these days and will literally risk their life to get past a machine, even on foot or on a push bike it’s like a race, it’s just plain crazy!!

Thoughts?

Im afraid what you describe is becoming more commom . Motorists are displaying reckless " get out of my way " characteristics when the meet slow moving farm traffic .
Cyclists and dogwalkers as well as joggers take stupidity to new levels usually whilst wearing headphones ..
A near neighbour who has yards both sides of a busy road has a large sign now on his Volvo loader reading CAUTION TURNING RIGHT IF IN DOUBT THE VOLVO ALWAYS WINS ....

 

[Gadget]

We have a track across fields that joins two lanes and means that we don’t have to go through the village. People use it as part of their walk, which we don’t have a problem with. It never ceases to amaze me that when we are driving on it and kicking up dust they all move to the side, however, usually the side that the wind is blowing the dust to!

 

[Lofty1984]

We have a track across fields that joins two lanes and means that we don’t have to go through the village. People use it as part of their walk, which we don’t have a problem with. It never ceases to amaze me that when we are driving on it and kicking up dust they all move to the side, however, usually the side that the wind is blowing the dust to!

I too have witnessed this strange phenomenon it’s like a moth to a light bulb

 

[ollie989898]

Im afraid what you describe is becoming more commom . Motorists are displaying reckless " get out of my way " characteristics when the meet slow moving farm traffic .
Cyclists and dogwalkers as well as joggers take stupidity to new levels usually whilst wearing headphones ..
A near neighbour who has yards both sides of a busy road has a large sign now on his Volvo loader reading CAUTION TURNING RIGHT IF IN DOUBT THE VOLVO ALWAYS WINS ....

We all want to see a picture of that Volvo sign written like that...