Ever Been Stopped By Police While Driving Your Tractor? I Have..

[tjc1989]

A while back I was driving my tractor and attached brush hog on a paved Farm to Market Road in Texas, and a cop stopped me and said he clocked me going 17 mph, and felt it was too slow and dangerous. Plus he said I needed to pull over and let cars behind me pass. I really didn't say much back to him, except to motion back behind me and point out that there were several bridges, steep gulleys and ditches, and steep road shoulder drop offs, and I felt that it was unsafe to pull off the road in any of those areas. And that I couldn't justify doing anything unsafe that puts myself or my equipment in danger. As I sat there, I was thinking , " Boy, am I going to take this guy to court if he writes me a ticket ", but he didn't, and just turned around and walked back to his car, and left. Needless to say, after about 8 hours in the pasture mowing, I was tired, dirty, thirsty, and way less than pleased for him to stop me and proceed to lecture me.

My land is about 1.7 miles from my house where I keep my tractor, and the FM road is the only way to get to my field. It takes me seven minutes on the road to get there. There are several yellow no passing lanes, and a couple of curves, and for 2 or 3 hundred yards, some cars might have to slow behind me to wait until safe to pass. But, and I repeat, but, this FM road is not a heavily traveled road traffic wise, so any traffic impeding on my part is at a minimum, anyway.

Any of you guys been stopped for similar? Am I the bad guy here, or is he?

 

[schmism]

In my state, if you have your SMV sign on the back, and are withing a reasonable distance (its specified... 15 miles or some such?) of your farm, your legal to be on the road.

as discussed before it is safer to drive square down the middle of your lane vs try to stick to the edge and have some moron try to blast past you only to misjudge it and hit you.

 

[sweettractors]

When I was 14 I wanted to drive Grandads tractor every chance I could. When it was time to take the Case VAC into the shop (about a 8 mile drive) I jumped at the chance. My Aunt was pretty young at the time (Early twentys) and she decided she would ride on the tractor fender with me to the shop. As we pulled into the shop parking lot, the County Sheriff pulled in right behind us with his red lights flashing. He said he had got a call from a tourist that a boy and girl may be running away from home on a tractor and they needed to check it out. When the Sheriff seen what the situation was, and who it was, he, myself and especially my Aunt got a real good laugh out of that one. Ken Sweet

 

[arrow]

By law a tractor moving less than 25 mph must display a SMV out back. If you had one, the officer could only give you his opinion. If you did not have one, he could have certainly cited you if he wanted as he would be within the law to do so. My tractor came from the dealership with one so either they put it on or nothng leaves the JD factory without one. I was never stopped and have traveled maybe 30 miles all together on road over the years.

 

[brin]

I think you were fine and the Cop was bored. I routinely drive my tractors 5 miles on county roads at 13 MPH and I have had sheriff's deputies pass me and they wave as they go by. I have the SMV triangle on the back and have had no problem except the 20 min it takes to get to the farm,,,that is a boring ride.

 

[Thomas]

Understand what your saying also the officer..not taking side,but maybe the officer had complaint and just doing his job.

Yep been stop,just finish friend driveway couple tenths of mile from home...perfect timing by police officer??..tractor wasn't reg. or state plate but had the triangle,office told me the does and don'ts and had sense of humor,now the kicker,our city event members boards calls tractor owners to pull the floats year round,when you tell them not reg. nor state plate they just don't care or keep asking...figure that one out.

 

[TomWhite]

Never had it happen to me, but here is a related sort of story.

In our area (small town surrounded by rural area) there was a late-middle-aged man who would mow yards in the area using his riding mower. He lived maybe a couple miles outside of town on what everyone called "old 46", so he would just ride the mower in to town for his mowing duties. "Old 46" was previously State Road 46 until a new highway was built. It then became a county road.

Well, "Brownie", as everyone called him, used to like to stop in at one of the local bars after a hard day of mowing. Generally he skipped lunch when he was mowing, so the beers he drank were going into an empty stomach. Add to this that this was a hot day, and Brownie was pretty tired before his stop at the bar.

After a few brews he hopped on his rider and started home.

Can you see where this is leading?

Sure enough, ole Brownie got pulled over for driving his mower left of center on old 46. Soon as the cop approached him, the cop knew sure as anything that there had been some alcohol involved.

He was the only guy I've ever known to get a drunk driving citation on a riding mower.

 

[Renze]

as discussed before it is safer to drive square down the middle of your lane vs try to stick to the edge and have some moron try to blast past you only to misjudge it and hit you.

Very true... or a moron that comes from the opposite direction and thinks you have even more room to go over to the edge, while the road just isnt any wider...

I allways pull in the middle of the road untill the oncoming car goes aside, then i pull over to the side, so i decide at which distance they pass me... cityfolks allways misjudge the width of road, car and tractor.

 

[sweettractors]

He was the only guy I've ever known to get a drunk driving citation on a riding mower.


What about George Jones when he lost his drivers license? Ken Sweet

 

[TomWhite]

He was the only guy I've ever known to get a drunk driving citation on a riding mower.


What about George Jones when he lost his drivers license? Ken Sweet

I'm not a country fan at all, but wasn't George Jones pretty much born drunk?