Foot path, who should give way.

[snipe]

I was spraying today, travelling into the sun so could not see too well and also looking mainly to the right as having to turn section off as coming into some sort work. i just looked forward as I approached a footpath crossing the field to see the bald head of a runner disappearing in front of the front tank. Luckily I stop before we made contact with each other. The first thing the runner did was turn his stop watch off. You could tell he was the type that would run past his dying grandmar if it would improve his time.
Iv just looked on line but can’t find any info, who has the right of way on a footpath crossing a field? Tractor driving up and down or moron with long running socks and smart watch?

 

[Banana Bar]

I was spraying today, travelling into the sun so could not see too well and also looking mainly to the right as having to turn section off as coming into some sort work. i just looked forward as I approached a footpath crossing the field to see the bald head of a runner disappearing in front of the front tank. Luckily I stop before we made contact with each other. The first thing the runner did was turn his stop watch off. You could tell he was the type that would run past his dying grandmar if it would improve his time.
Iv just looked on line but can’t find any info, who has the right of way on a footpath crossing a field? Tractor driving up and down or moron with long running socks and smart watch?

I would use that rare commodity called common sense and stop for a few seconds. It’s way easier to let someone walk on by than deal with a claim that you’ve made someone ill.

 

[snipe]

normal I stop or slow down and wave someone past or they stop and wave me past Like normal people would. Was just wandering who actually has right of way.

 

[essexpete]

I have no idea but if I was out walking I would give way to the sprayer but I would also guess the footpath user has a right of way not to be interrupted.

 

[Kidds]

Well if you ran him over you would be in trouble so I guess he had right of way.
If any common sense is to be applied just be aware it will have to be the tractor driver applying it because walkers/joggers/runners don't have any to apply.

 

[Tarw Coch]

If I was walking a footpath I’d work on the basis of who would come off worse in the event of a collision with a piece of machinery and keep out of the way...................but I don’t walk footpaths

 

[Robt]

normal I stop or slow down and wave someone past or they stop and wave me past Like normal people would. Was just wandering who actually has right of way.

Im
Pretty sure the clue is in the title..... foot path

 

[Drillman]

I would say the pedestrian always has right of way on a footpath.
unfortunatley some of them don’t have any spacial awareness

 

[Bogweevil]

Sail before steam as they say in the merchant navy.

 

[DeeGee]

Being deliberately controversial and conforming to the stereotypical public image of the ‘get off my land!’ farmer, I would say “you do”.

In reality I suppose at best it comes down to common sense, which means the footpath user; and ultimately of course it would always have to be the footpath user, because regardless of what might be seen as common sense or ‘right or wrong’, that’s the way the British legal system works.

 

[Devil's advocate]

Few years ago I was spraying laser onto veg crops, travelling 4kph to get plenty of volume on, looking what I was doing.

When 20 joggers caught me up, unseen by me, then flagged me down gasping from running hard, asking me what I was using.

 

[Kidds]

When 20 joggers caught me up, unseen by me, then flagged me down gasping from running hard, asking me what I was using.

In these situations you should only partially open the door to speak to them while desperately clutching your gas mask to your face and shut the door as soon as possible before driving off looking terrified.

 

[wanton dwarf]

Those claiming to give way to footpath users and also stating common sense are not thinking straight.

It is not gonna happen that every farmer is going to notice everyone, so it's an accident waiting to happen.

There is a reason why pedestrians are not legally allowed to step in front of traffic on roads. It has very little to do with right of way or even legality .. it's because soft bodies don't end up in a good condition when in an accident.

So I would say common sense says any footpath users have to use their common sense and not put themselves in danger. Which also applies to livestock, obstructions, sprayed fields, rabbit holes, molehills, thorns, stingers, barbed wire, mud, electric fences etc.

 

[JWL]

I can never grasp what the state of someone's mind is when they enter a workplace/factory floor and walk around into the path of a dirty great agricultural machine. You would think that a normal human being would just pause to let work continue and then carry on with their recreational stroll. To me it is just pure ignorance and selfishness on their part to carry on walking on a path that crosses an arable crop when you are approaching with a sprayer or even the combine.
What's worse is the same actions from eejits that aren't even on the effin footpath!

 

[Lofty1984]

I can never grasp what the state of someone's mind is when they enter a workplace/factory floor and walk around into the path of a dirty great agricultural machine. You would think that a normal human being would just pause to let work continue and then carry on with their recreational stroll. To me it is just pure ignorance and selfishness on their part to carry on walking on a path that crosses an arable crop when you are approaching with a sprayer or even the combine.
What's worse is the same actions from eejits that aren't even on the effin footpath!

The best ones are the ones you stop for who then proceed at a snails pace and dont bother to thank you

 

[curlietailz]

Are the public allowed to stop on a footpath ? I reckon the footpath is exactly that. A path for foot traffic and they shouldn’t stop ( and gawp)

 

[Adeptandy]

2 numpties today,
First was a horse and rider in the field, no footpath or bridleway, could see I was spreading fert, tried to ride past close then objected when the horse reacted.
Second, car drove across a field to have a picnic, no right of way for them either. When challenged stated.....there wasn’t a sign to say I couldn’t.

 

[Tarw Coch]

2 numpties today,
First was a horse and rider in the field, no footpath or bridleway, could see I was spreading fert, tried to ride past close then objected when the horse reacted.
Second, car drove across a field to have a picnic, no right of way for them either. When challenged stated.....there wasn’t a sign to say I couldn’t.

According to that logic, if they didn’t have a sign up saying please don’t punch me in the gob , then it would have been perfectly acceptable to do so.

 

[nickf]

2 numpties today,
First was a horse and rider in the field, no footpath or bridleway, could see I was spreading fert, tried to ride past close then objected when the horse reacted.
Second, car drove across a field to have a picnic, no right of way for them either. When challenged stated.....there wasn’t a sign to say I couldn’t.

The comments of “..there wasn’t a sign to say I couldn’t..” seems to be becoming the standard excuse around my area for people and cars going where they shouldn’t.
The countryside would look a right state if every gap in a hedge or farm track had to have a Private No Entry sign.
i don’t know what has happened to common sense, personal responsibility and the ability to read a map but it is currently doing my head in.
I let a small wood to a children’s laser tag camp weekends and in the holidays. First session was today. The organiser had to spend over an hour picking up discarded dog muck bags, they had even been put inside the bbq , disgusting. There are no footpaths through the wood but it’s becoming a real battle to keep people to the correct rights of way.
Sorry, a bit of a rant off topic!

 

[Al R]

2 numpties today,
First was a horse and rider in the field, no footpath or bridleway, could see I was spreading fert, tried to ride past close then objected when the horse reacted.
Second, car drove across a field to have a picnic, no right of way for them either. When challenged stated.....there wasn’t a sign to say I couldn’t.

I had a kn0b yesterday running with a dog across a field that has no footpath in and there arnt many without here. He refused to stop when I asked where he was going, he then left a gate open between rams and ewes with lambs and kept running, I caught him up quickly on the quad when he failed to open a gate which was tied in several places to stop ewes and rams mixing, he said he could go where he wanted i told him which gate to use to get him off the land quicker and back to where he wanted to go, instructing him not to untie the gate because of ewes and rams scenario and there was a good size gap under the gate for his mutt to get under. I stopped where I was and watched from afar as he untied the gate and left that 1 open to. tomorrow there will be barbed wire tied on all gates with no footpath.