Tractor and Bus Crash Kent

[ffukedfarmer]

Looks like a loader tractor at a junction with the bucket up high has caught a passing bus injuring several kids.

Someone, presumably the tractor driver, has been arrested for dangerous driving.

I'm not sure what steps can practicably be taken to prevent accidents like this. Ban on carrying attachments on loaders on the road? Not very workable and then what about implements on the front linkage?

Is it better to creep out of a junction with the loader down?

 

[Henarar]

they could get rid of or reposition some of the road signs at junctions so you can see better, they also have a habit of putting the bloody things next to field gateways so you can't see feck all but the bloody sign

 

[Spencer]

Looks like a loader tractor at a junction with the bucket up high has caught a passing bus injuring several kids.

Someone, presumably the tractor driver, has been arrested for dangerous driving.

I'm not sure what steps can practicably be taken to prevent accidents like this. Ban on carrying attachments on loaders on the road? Not very workable and then what about implements on the front linkage?

Is it better to creep out of a junction with the loader down?

Yes. Do a lot of loader work, baffles me when I see tractors driving around with loaders in the air. Keep it as low as possible.

 

[Filthyfarmer]

Meopham bus crash leaves at least five children injured

The air ambulance was called to the scene on the A227 near Meopham.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[CPF]

A serious accident and my thoughts are with the injured feel very sorry for them.

He had the loader raised up a with a bucket attached up in the air, the double decker hit the bucket and taken top deck side out from
front to back .

But there again I do feel sorry for the tractor driver just think what’s going through his mine .

 

[Sam Partridge]

Never understood implements high in the air, far better to be low to the ground and go real careful out of junctions and round corners

 

[Henarar]

Never understood implements high in the air, far better to be low to the ground and go real careful out of junctions and round corners

I understand it well enough, if you lift a loader up it don't stick out as far which means you can get closer to the line at junctions without the loader/attachment sticking out in the road then you can see up the road better.

 

[deleted user 837354]

I feel the same, terrible situation for anyone to be in. Arresting someone for dangerous driving is a bit stiff if you ask me.

Always had loader down when on the road. I prefer it there because I can see it better and feel it is better and more obvious to other road users that way.

 

[Hindsight]

I wonder why it is not a legal requirement that front mounted weights, tool boxes, implements have high visibility fluorescent on the sides, so are highlighted during daylight and show up at night as these things poke out as the driver tries to edge forward into the road.

 

[ffukedfarmer]

I understand it well enough, if you lift a loader up it don't stick out as far which means you can get closer to the line at junctions without the loader/attachment sticking out in the road then you can see up the road better.

I always prefer having the loader and attachment as high as possible at poor visibility junctions as the chances of catching a high sided vehicle should be lower.

 

[ffukedfarmer]

I feel the same, terrible situation for anyone to be in. Arresting someone for dangerous driving is a bit stiff if you ask me.

Always had loader down when on the road. I prefer it there because I can see it better and feel it is better and more obvious to other road users that

we are only speculating about what happened as the reports are very vague. Might be more to it.

 

[Henarar]

overhanging garden hedges and bushes at junctions are another bloody nuance and some farmers hedges are not much better

 

[deleted user 837354]

Mind, I would say that a lot of the motoring populace do not know how to react to farm machinery on the roads and less and less of them know to expect to find them taking up the bulk of minor country roads because of their width. More than a few times I have been teetering down narrow lanes and had someone appear in front of me with a look of partial terror because they find a vehicle coming toward them and no way of passing it. It was one of the few things I didn't much care for when contracting. Paradoxically I used to feel a bit more vulnerable being on a tractor on dual carriageways with the traffic hammering by at speed.

 

[Chae1]

Never understood implements high in the air, far better to be low to the ground and go real careful out of junctions and round corners

What about motorbikes!? Cyclists.

 

[deleted user 837354]

What about motorbikes!? Cyclists.

I have no issue with motorbikers. I would say in the main they are very skilled road users- you need to be able to read the road and have observational skills as a motorbiker or you simply will not last long so it becomes self-selecting. They also tend to get a wriggle on and overtake- if they are in front of you then you have no problem with them as you can see them very readily. They also do not try to undertake you on the inside or filter through heavy traffic. Also, not just anyone can pass a proper bike test. I do think that the power limit of bikes mind should be raised. These 50cc things are simply not fast enough to keep up with traffic or overtake any sense and makes it risky for young riders. They should be able to have something more powerful as a first bike just not a 800cc doom machine.

 

[kiwi pom]

If the junction in the article photo is where it happened visibility shouldn’t have been an issue.
Doesn’t say the loader was up high, pretty dumb if it was.
Don’t know what the dimensions laws are? I’m guessing there’s a measurement from implements most forward point to steering wheel or something?
Cameras on front mounted kit the obvious answer but expensive.

 

[Wesley]

If the junction in the article photo is where it happened visibility shouldn’t have been an issue.

This looks more likely to be where it happened

Man, 33, arrested after crash between school bus and tractor

The bus driver and 12 children were taken to hospital while four more casualties were treated by paramedics at the scene following the crash on the A227 South Street in Meopham.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[yellow belly]

I take bucket down roads
at Difficult to see junctions alway Rase it as high as possible with bucket crowded back where it does not stick out in front of the tractor
but often put bucket on a trailer
mostly on visible roads the bucket is as low as possible and in a collision would hit the car bumper and crumple zones

 

[snarling bee]

I think there the law says a max of 2m front overhang from the centre of the front axle. That is going to be difficult in many situations.

Perhaps put a set of wheels on any front implement.

 

[manhill]

Looks like a loader tractor at a junction with the bucket up high has caught a passing bus injuring several kids.

Someone, presumably the tractor driver, has been arrested for dangerous driving.

I'm not sure what steps can practicably be taken to prevent accidents like this. Ban on carrying attachments on loaders on the road? Not very workable and then what about implements on the front linkage?

Is it better to creep out of a junction with the loader down?

I feel safer with the loader up.