Flashing beacons

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
I was offerd a beacon bar tonight , told the man throw it in the skip I don’t use beacons , it’s in the skip , I hate beacons with a passion .
no, 2 side by side are what the cool up with it ' kids have , they should be flashing i n unison as well :unsure::D
 

Ali_Maxxum

Member
Location
Chepstow, Wales
@cj

Is the lightbar used on the road? Are they road legal?
Yeah it's wired into the sidelights. Probably not made to a particular road legal spec. It's not as bright/piercing as it looks in those pictures, it's very subtle but can be seen from a good distance. No different to one you'd see on an artic tractor unit. That's a better picture.

Snapchat-903622142.jpg
 
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alomy75

Member
One rotating beacon on the roof. Standard (non/roof) lights when it’s dark; not when it’s light. As per the law; nothing more, nothing less.
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
Flashing lights are over used big time in UK nowadays, they're is no need for them on majority of roadwork they should be used sparingly and when there is a hazard (wide load ect) never used to be like this, everywhere you go there's kids with twin lights goin
All it does is desensitise the traffic to when there is a real hazzard !!

Dustbin lorries travelling between collection points on both urban and rural roads.

Breakdown recovery with either a car on the back or on tow.

There are two prime examples of inconsiderate use.

Another is tractors in fields 🤷‍♂️
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
Disappointed to see 24hrs later this is only 4 pages long.... 😅

My take on the subject..... I don't use them in the day, unless we are going mega slow with something or have something mega wide on front and rear. Otherwise I will use them dusk, onwards. Different roads have different levels of risk so I use the rotating amber beacons accordingly.

I like to have 2 as 1 can easily be hidden by a machine, load, whatever. And if a bulb goes in one you still have another.

Nothing worse than seeing some prat coming towards you with the most dim and pathetic side lights and 1 head light working to find when you get alongside them they've got some ratty old mower half hanging out in your side of the carriageway!

Our local police force had a telly programme 'Traffic Scene Investigators' and on one of the episodes a tractor was involved in the dark. It went to the pound for them to go through it, checked the beacon, it worked, it helped pick it out on the CCTV footage of it as well. So many people have dash cams nowadays and you can bet your bottom dollar that it would play a huge part in any evidence/claim as to weather a working beacon was fitted.

We have an led strobe on the back of our bale trailer, its on a bracket so I've got it angled slightly downward so it's not directly in anyones eyes, but you can still clearly see it. As when I have a full load of bales on, all you can see are the tail lights, don't get me wrong they are led and very good too, but otherwise all you can see is a wall of hay, at least the beacon is giving a bit of a heads up warning!

Ticked the road lighting kit option on our new mower so that can be seen, too.

Another reason I put the lightbar on our latest tractor is so people can see not only how wide I am but also how tall, so they can physically see that something big is coming towards them in the hope they'll slow down from 80mph to at least 65mph on a B road.... They are actually quite subtle but can be seen from a hell of a long way away.

View attachment 1012872View attachment 1012876

A lorry of that size would have marker lights in the front and rear top corners to give road users and indication of size.

Would that help?
 

David1968

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
SW Scotland
I had an artic here the other day with beacons a blaze , I said you have your beacons on ? Oh aye so folk can see me on this single track road . It’s a 44 ton artic tipper and it’s nice day if others can’t see that without beacons a blaze quite frankly Darwin would say they need run over.
If you see flashing lights in the distance, you know to look for somewhere to pull in. It saves having to back up half a mile on a single track road.
 
In theory. In reality car driver goes like f**k to get to the next place they can pass only to realise the wagon/tractor is already past it when they get there. They then set off to reverse on full lock get crossways in road pull forward try again backwards no better all the time you're sitting watching losing the will to live and you end up backing up instead 🙈
At least the more visible you are to begin with you've given them as much chance as you could
 

toquark

Member
I can live with tractors covered in flashing lights but its the recreational idiots who feel the need to festoon their 4x4s or pickups with them that get on my wick.

You just know that they spend their lives desperately seeking excuses to turn them on. Such as every time they stop at the side of the road to conduct some very important business (nicking firewood etc), or driving about desperately seeking a damsel in distress every time it snows.
 

Fendt516profi

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Yorkshire
I had an artic here the other day with beacons a blaze , I said you have your beacons on ? Oh aye so folk can see me on this single track road . It’s a 44 ton artic tipper and it’s nice day if others can’t see that without beacons a blaze quite frankly Darwin would say they need run over.
Have had delivery vans (transit size) come down our lane with hazard lights on
 

Hilly

Member
I followed a wide load up the A1 the other day very wide ! With escort vehicle they had beacons on and deservedly so ! Jesus the fella with the wagon could drive mind ! Dominating the traffic quite impressive to see to be honest I followed long than I could have 😂 past the metro Center at 56mph with all lanes taken up !!
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
I drive an emergency vehicle on blue lights as a second job. The amount of idiots that can’t see the lights even at night is unbelievable. Those 20 seconds stuck behind a chap who doesn’t use mirrors could really be all that matters or the one that turns across infornt of an emergency vehicle. They could be dimmer at night but what happens when it’s dark and heavy rain or heavy fog… @JP1 you have anything to add?
Yesterday as I left the NDR roundabout to get on the A146 Cromer road out of Norwich I could see a fire appliance responding in the distance and coming towards me. Many cars coming towards me didn't even notice it until it was right upon them clearly demonstrating they never check their mirrors and they have the radio up so loud they can't hear a 200 watt yelper !

To make matters worse I yielded immediately with hazards on and a donut then overtook me and then panicked

That road is pretty wide. if you watch YouTube videos in the States folks yield immediately and stop. If they'd done that on that road the appliance could have safely travelled down the centre line at the vehicle's theoretical maximum speed limiter (around 73mph)
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
Watching some of these emergency services programmes on tv its shocking how long some drivers take before moving out of the way of an emergency vehicle coming from behind. If they don't notice sirens and blue flashing lights then they should not have a licence to drive.
I think wilful obstruction should be recorded on a responding camera and a dedicated back office should prosecute. Fines would keep this self funding
 

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