Be prepared to be stopped by the police next week.

[MrNoo]

There hauling back are way, 90 minutes one way depending on traffic, lucky if you do 3 loads a day.

Yes, we were ploughing outside Ross, a black JD I noticed and the usual stream of Fendt's. Not sure I fancy going up and down the hill by the Air Balloon all day, traffic can be murder, esp on a Friday.

 

[Andrew]

Tillypass is OK BUT very flawed. It only checks everything is working properly, there are a lot of trailers out there with incorrectly specced brakes, that are illegal (don’t meet the required 25% efficiency), but can pass a tilly test. Much better to have a proper test done with BAGMA decelerometer or rolling road style.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Wonder what percentage of tractor fault accidents are caused by driver error Vs equipment failure

Wonder how many of the statistics of accidents involving tractors are the tractors fault in any way.
Some years ago, 1997 to be precise I was travelling home one evening with tractor and muckspreader down a decent length straight with orange beacon on roof.
A row of cars was coming towards me and from the back of the row one pulled out and proceeded to overtake before at the last minute realising they weren’t going to get past them all, locking up and slamming into the front of my tractor.
Really sh!t me up, thought it would be a fatality but the driver was unharmed although the car was unrecognisable.
Police checked everything over and I even had to blow in the bag but everything was right and straight as far as I was concerned.

Several months later the police wrote to me saying they weren’t going to prosecute me due to insufficient evidence....................how generous of them

 

[som farmer]

it is about time, that farmers realised, to a majority of road users, a tractor is the same width as of a bicycle, and moves at 5 mph.

 

[snarling bee]

Tillypass is OK BUT very flawed. It only checks everything is working properly, there are a lot of trailers out there with incorrectly specced brakes, that are illegal (don’t meet the required 25% efficiency), but can pass a tilly test. Much better to have a proper test done with BAGMA decelerometer or rolling road style.

This has been done to death before. I will repeat what I said then. To be properly covered you need a Tilly Inspection AND a Bagma Brake efficiency test (or rolling road).
You are correct that those towing a trailer designed with 'ag' brakes at 20mph/30 kph should not be towing them with 40 or 50kph tractors.
If you double the weight of a trailer you should double the braking force. If you double your speed you need to quadruple the braking force.
The point as well is that those brakes need to be PROPERLY ADJUSTED.

 

[snarling bee]

Wonder what percentage of tractor fault accidents are caused by driver error Vs equipment failure

Don't know, but I do know of 2 fatalities caused by badly adjusted trailer brakes.

 

[Werzle]

Bad accident in herefordshire lately where a walker was killed by a tractor , not heard the details or if anybody was to blame but lets hope people hauling spuds and maize over the next few months use their brains and help keep the general public on our side. Unfortunatly there are still far too many young lads/lasses hauling massive weights about without much experience which is just accidents waiting to happen.

 

[Wilksy]

This morning I was on a narrow Lane with a tractor and grain trailer and I bloody jogger coming towards me plenty of grass verge but he insisted on jogging on about 18" of road, obviously didn't want to break his stride

 

[bobk]

Something needs to be done I was 31 tons today , is that legal ?

 

[Highland Mule]

Something needs to be done I was 31 tons today , is that legal ?

Not behind a landrover.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Something needs to be done I was 31 tons today , is that legal ?

Maybe

 

[Andrew]

Something needs to be done I was 31 tons today , is that legal ?

31t gross weight of which 18.29t can be the trailer.

 

[kiwi pom]

Bad accident in herefordshire lately where a walker was killed by a tractor , not heard the details or if anybody was to blame but lets hope people hauling spuds and maize over the next few months use their brains and help keep the general public on our side. Unfortunatly there are still far too many young lads/lasses hauling massive weights about without much experience which is just accidents waiting to happen.

Perhaps it's time to ask, why are there a new crop of young people on these machines every year?

Of course if the bosses actually policed their drivers a little bit, made sure they new how to drive, were doing things properly and the kit was serviced properly by a mechanic, it wouldn't matter how old they were.

 

[steveR]

Perhaps it's time to ask, why are there a new crop of young people on these machines every year?

Of course if the bosses actually policed their drivers a little bit, made sure they new how to drive, were doing things properly and the kit was serviced properly by a mechanic, it wouldn't matter how old they were.

That would appear to be far to sensible (and expensive) for some Bosses?

Possibly the novelty of bouncing around narrow lanes on a Tractor wears off rather quickly!

 

[Werzle]

Perhaps it's time to ask, why are there a new crop of young people on these machines every year?

Of course if the bosses actually policed their drivers a little bit, made sure they new how to drive, were doing things properly and the kit was serviced properly by a mechanic, it wouldn't matter how old they were.

Im not sure some of the big outfits know who is working for them, they just want bums on seats and the job done

 

[Mc115reed]

Perhaps it's time to ask, why are there a new crop of young people on these machines every year?

Of course if the bosses actually policed their drivers a little bit, made sure they new how to drive, were doing things properly and the kit was serviced properly by a mechanic, it wouldn't matter how old they were.

There’s a new crop of young people on these machines every year because most folk with out about them have full time jobs.... young lads finish college, then go do a summer on a trailer carting grass... then go carting corn... then on too maize... then spuds... then beet... then fly too New Zealand and do the exact same there... then come back and realise they need a stable income and get a full time job instead of “I’ll ring you when we’re short”

 

[deleted user 436632456]

One of the big problems is that the industry really and I mean really needs to think of a way to retain their good staff,
To many exit because the lorries, building industries etc pay more and is full time, how can you expect someone who wants to drive tractors and is good at it, to sit at home and wait for the phone to ring.
There's a lot of complaints about young tractor drivers for contractors on the road but I always wonder if the contractor gave the customer a choice of £60 per acre with the young drivers and lift all night or £100 per acre for professional drivers but only lift from 8am - 5pm every day, I wonder what they would chose?

 

[Al R]

One of the big problems is that the industry really and I mean really needs to think of a way to retain their good staff,
To many exit because the lorries, building industries etc pay more and is full time, how can you expect someone who wants to drive tractors and is good at it, to sit at home and wait for the phone to ring.
There's a lot of complaints about young tractor drivers for contractors on the road but I always wonder if the contractor gave the customer a choice of £60 per acre with the young drivers and lift all night or £100 per acre for professional drivers but only lift from 8am - 5pm every day, I wonder what they would chose?

The £60 is to expensive let alone the £100!!!

 

[kiwi pom]

There’s a new crop of young people on these machines every year because most folk with out about them have full time jobs.... young lads finish college, then go do a summer on a trailer carting grass... then go carting corn... then on too maize... then spuds... then beet... then fly too New Zealand and do the exact same there... then come back and realise they need a stable income and get a full time job instead of “I’ll ring you when we’re short”

Yes I know, that's how I ended up here, although I was a little older.
Not sure it's a responsible business model for large farmers and contractors though.

 

[kiwi pom]

One of the big problems is that the industry really and I mean really needs to think of a way to retain their good staff,
To many exit because the lorries, building industries etc pay more and is full time, how can you expect someone who wants to drive tractors and is good at it, to sit at home and wait for the phone to ring.
There's a lot of complaints about young tractor drivers for contractors on the road but I always wonder if the contractor gave the customer a choice of £60 per acre with the young drivers and lift all night or £100 per acre for professional drivers but only lift from 8am - 5pm every day, I wonder what they would chose?

Why would they only work 8am- 5pm?
You not heard of shift work?

Buy a machine worth several hundred thousand and expect one person to operate it 18+ hours a day for a couple of weeks to a high standard and then tell them to f**k off when it rains or work gets quiet.

They wonder why they cant get drivers. Muppets.