Inconsiderate drivers and tractor operators, bad mix...

[oosik]

Around here and on secondary roads - I believe agricultural equipment has the ROW also. There is usually a pickup with flashing lights leading this excursion. You whip past this lead pickup and around the corner. Most likely you will get thrashed, shucked or baled. As farms have become consolidated and larger - so has the equipment. It's not uncommon, this time of year, to meet a grain harvester coming at you. The header can be as wide as the total paved road width.

 

[5030]

Here in Michigan, Right to farm takes precedent over just about everything as we are an ag state.

 

[Diggin It]

Had 2 different Fastraks. Very high maintenance. Not really a tractor. Theyre a truck with PTOs and 3PT hitches. They have a front & rear differential and a suspension like a military truck.

I think AM General and GM missed the mark with the HUMVEE transition. Imagine if they had gone to a farm/offroad/utility version with PTO and 3PT front and rear. Then maybe something for utility and timber companies.

 

[Smokeydog]

Over the decades I have changed. Used to hand clear and weed eat the strip between my property fence and the road. 600’ rock wall and 800’ , 6’ chain link. Got scared of fast cars and a thrown bottle. Switched to spraying with 4wheeler with lights and slow moving triangle on usually a Sunday morning. Still passing within inches at 50mph on 35mph road. Put the sprayer in bucket of tractor with hazard lights and slow moving triangle. Better but it’s a risk I don’t look forward to. I swear people people speed up to pass when there is a tractor in the road. Tractors aren’t crash tested or have air bags like cars. I’m maybe bigger but they are a whole lot faster.

 

[CobyRupert]

Almost had an oops yesterday with a speeding driver while I was pulling out of my farm lane onto the dirt road in front of the farm, idiot coming at warp speed (way too fast for a dirt road) and almost collided with the tractor, scared the heck out of me. I think he (yes it was a he) would have come out on the 'bleed' end of the incident, hitting a 10,000 pound tractor.

What people fail to realize (or are too stupid to realize) is that in most states, on secondary roads, powered farm equipment have the right of way. No exceptions.

Then the guy flips me off as well.

Should have put him in the ditch.......

So OP pulled out of his farm lane onto a public road in front of a car? This seems like the inconsiderate act......and it’s the car drivers fault they almost crashed? Maybe I’m missing some details of the story.

I don’t think any state grants farm equipment the right of way to pull out of a side lane in front of oncoming traffic.

...and yes, we all know that anybody who drives faster than us is an idiot, and anybody who drives slower than us is a moron. This doesn’t change who has the right of way.

 

[Diggin It]

So OP pulled out of his farm lane onto a public road in front of a car?

I didn't read it that way.

I read it as he pulled out onto the road and a car traveling at high speed came up on him after he was out there. A vehicle that was not within his view at the time he pulled out.

 

[daugen]

if I see a combine with a header coming at me, on a rural two lane, I stop and pull over to the right with my flashers on. That lets the combine
driver see he doesn't have to go into the ditch on the right trying to avoid me. I always get a lot of waves and thumbs up as they pass.
A little kindness, and safety, goes a long way.

 

[3930dave]

After coming across somebody (car driver) here who was charged (50% fault) when turning left, and got hit by somebody passing them, I now try to also give my driver's mirror a quick glance before turning left.

I don't really agree with how the HTA handles this here, but my opinion wouldn't do me any good in court. Law likely will vary by jurisdiction, but it is surprising to many (like me) to find out it applies where you live.

Passing ag tractors on the road, I always scan ahead for anything that looks like a field-entrance coming up - actively reminding myself that the driver may swing-wide where nobody else would. Driving a tractor on-road, I expect much less awareness by drivers behind me.

Rgds, D.

 

[HAR]

I have driven many highways and side roads in other states, and many of them are super highways compared to Vermont highways and side roads. I live in Addison County, the heart of the Champlain Valley, which is primarily dairy agriculture. I live on a state highway (VT 74) which is a busy tractor trailer route and it is a mere 21.5 feet wide. Some dirt roads (like Lake Street) with access to some larger farms is actually wider at 22.8 feet wide. While much of our ag equipment is not as large as some in the mid-west, many pieces here are just able to make it down some of these roads. Most of our roads have blind hills and corners. To say that speeding on these roads is suicide is an understatement. Due to our 'remote country atmosphere', out of stater's love to visit, but they forget their manners when they leave home. Between spring and late fall, the roads are busy with ag equipment hauling plows, harrows, planters, fertilizer, mowers, choppers, spreaders, and wagons. And every year there are the inevitable collisions between inconsiderate drivers and ag equipment. My daughter is a First Responder who is constantly being summoned to respond to such a call. Someone made mention of common sense. If it were all that common, everyone would have it!

 

[rademamj1]

Here in Texas, most county roads are surprisingly straight and wide and cars drive fast. Most county crews Brush Hog along the roads during the hot summer to limit fire risks and improve visibility. Not uncommon to see 2 or 3 mowing crews per day. Almost all crews are local farmers picking up extra income during the summer. I assumed there would be lots of reports of Agriculture equipment road accidents.

I searched the last ten years of county accidents, and found only one account of a tractor accident was reported, and sadly it was fatal. A motorcycle driver hit the rear of a John Deer tractor, as he was making a turn.

Apparently, despite fast drivers and slow moving tractors and other Ag vehicles sharing the road, apparently road accidents are far less common than expected. I do know, that a near miss like the OP experienced is never reported.