Why dont people pull over to let cars pass?

[Farmer_Joe]

Followed a tractor today with trailer down a main route for around 14 miles today, the que was massive, mix of artics cars vans etc,

frustratingly he passed 3 really good passing places, like really long laybys with excellent visibility but he just kept driving...

no wonder general public think we are twits...

 

[Brisel]

This is a perennial gripe. I find this type of driver in the minority - most will pull over occasionally unless they are in a long train. I doubt you'll see many threads on Mumsnet about how courteous most tractor drivers are - you only get to hear the rants about the selfish few.

I have some sympathy but not much. A busy road might mean 5 minutes between laybys then another 5 minutes trying to pull out again.

 

[Farmer_Joe]

This is a perennial gripe. I find this type of driver in the minority - most will pull over occasionally unless they are in a long train. I doubt you'll see many threads on Mumsnet about how courteous most tractor drivers are - you only get to hear the rants about the selfish few.

I have some sympathy but not much. A busy road might mean 5 minutes between laybys then another 5 minutes trying to pull out again.

to be fair theres usually good gaps to get back out, i think he was oblivious?

 

[Shep]

I agree with you about pulling in, as I hate traffic behind me on the tractor.
Plenty of times, I have been held up by slow moving traffic like lorries and cranes or busses and diggers, even road rollers.
I wonder if those drivers are worried about what the general public thinks of them? Will they stop buying their goods and services or refuse public funding to them?
Not to mention cyclists, I personally think that they should have some kind of insurance as they are as much a liability as any other vehicle.

 

[slackjawedyokel]

My pet hate is when a perfectly good lay-by has a car parked slap bang in the middle of it such that, with a tractor and trailer you can’t safely pull in- I feel sorry then for the traffic seething behind me, probably many of whom won’t understand that I couldn’t pull in.

 

[Rowland]

My pet hate is when a perfectly good lay-by has a car parked slap bang in the middle of it such that, with a tractor and trailer you can’t safely pull in- I feel sorry then for the traffic seething behind me, probably many of whom won’t understand that I couldn’t pull in.

No saying when the car park there was other vehicles in the lay by.
It’s a pet hate of mine too - following tractors that don’t pull over , it’s up there with the car that hangs back from your tractor stopping others overtaking .
When I started driving tractors on the roads they were about 80hp and only did 20mph .
So smaller and slower making them easier to overtake and less traffic.
Now tractors are popping on at 30 odd mph a lot bigger and more traffic on the roads making it more difficult for overtaking.

 

[Kidds]

I always pull over as long as it is safe but I won’t pull over if it is perfectly safe to overtake yet the driver decides to sit behind me.
One road I use is as wide as a dual carriageway yet people won’t overtake. My tractor is only little too, I think the wheel centres are the same as a MF35 but they think I’m a juggernaut.

 

[chaffcutter]

Moving our combine and header trailer along the A5 the other day, we pulled in three times to let traffic by, (difficult as there aren't really enough places to do so) got a wave from several cars in thanks which was nice, Standing waiting to pull across a minor road to get into the field, got a youth who must have been held up all of a minute screaming and waving out of the car calling us strokers.
Some people just have no tolerance whatsoever.

 

[fgc325j]

Followed a tractor today with trailer down a main route for around 14 miles today, the que was massive, mix of artics cars vans etc,

frustratingly he passed 3 really good passing places, like really long laybys with excellent visibility but he just kept driving..

no wonder general public think we are twits...

Some people have nothing better to do than be a PITA!

 

[deleted user 837354]

Forever seeing people running convoys of traffic along the road behind them around here. It isn't good PR at all. I would pull over if there is somewhere safe to do so.

 

[PSQ]

Moving our combine and header trailer along the A5 the other day, we pulled in three times to let traffic by.

Funnily enough I got stuck behind a combine on the A5 last week, for about 4 miles

But it wasn't in Shropshire (north of Towcester), it was a New Holland with a header towed behind, and the only lay-by he passed had a twit parked in the middle of it. So I sympathised with the combine driver, and the quarter mile queue behind him

 

[HarryB97]

Depends on how long you're on the road for, what you have on the back & if you're in convoy etc. Most of the time round here by the time you find a decent lay by u'll then spend half the day waiting to pull out again. I just drive right on the edge of the road, a lot of people don't seam to have the ability to overtake despite countless chances and roads wide enough to get three tractors down

 

[ISCO]

Not always easy to find d suitable layby and you can easily lose 5 minutes of Time so temptation Is to keep going. I always try to pull over if possible although it does annoy me when 90 % plus of car drivers don't even put their hand up when I have pulled over.

 

[snarling bee]

There should be a thread about poor drivers as well, most don't know the width of their car, but expect you to smash your mirrors on the overgrown hedge or road sign.

 

[Raggy]

Councils digging trenches to enable water run-off from roads mean pulling over isn't always easy or safe. Grass verges are anything but flat. But I find that one of the biggest problems is nervous drivers too scared to overtake, even when beckoned to come past. That then leads to other cars having to overtake more than just a single tractor. which then leads to a longer queue. Just can't win sometimes. That said I hate to see long queues, and pull over as often as I can.

 

[robs1]

Was hauling some hay today, pulled in one lay by and took a long time to get out again, next one is maybe three quarters of a mile further on and then the same distance to where I was going had I pulled in again it would have taken me as long to get out again as get to the yard, at 25 mph folk would have waited a minute

 

[chaffcutter]

We always leave plenty of room between vehicles to allow overtakers to pass one at a time, but people seem very wary of doing so, don’t know why?

 

[Rowland]

Funnily enough I got stuck behind a combine on the A5 last week, for about 4 miles

But it wasn't in Shropshire (north of Towcester), it was a New Holland with a header towed behind, and the only lay-by he passed had a twit parked in the middle of it. So I sympathised with the combine driver, and the quarter mile queue behind him

Why was the driver of the car parked in the lay by a twit ?

 

[Matt L]

Had one the other day taking a machine down the road. Plenty of room to pass and didn’t, kept looking but wouldn’t commit even on a clear road. Then once they did brave it they swore at me as they went past. Once past they than sat at 45k which resulted in them holding me up!

 

[Paddington]

Often tractors aren't the reason for hold ups around here as they are either stuck behind a) Doris and Else on their way to the shops, 20mph max and braking on all the turns. b) tourists, again doing 20mph admiring the views, completely oblivious of the four tractors carting grain behind them, or c) White Van Man, totally out of his depth and reduced to a crawl as sat nav has failed, sending him left down Haystacks Lane for the third time and there is no mobile signal to ring the customer.