Inconsiderate drivers and tractor operators, bad mix...

[LouNY]

5 foot markers on each side.



go tell that to the guy that I had to plow though several acres of peanuts. He planted up next the the paved road and county said the cable will be on the back 5 foot of the ROW.

I have seen the state take an excavator to pull up a fence and then send the owner a bill.


Were those markers visible in the vegetation, why hadn't the town or state mowed it so he wouldn't have needed to.
So that was an easement taken from him that he was still paying taxes on and still owned.
I've seen some very tense scenes when that happens also.

 

[ovrszd]

Funny. I just got (back) a little farm wagon, maybe seven feet long. My Lady friend was pulling it with the Mule on the weekend, and stopped in position to back it into a parking place. I just stopped what I was doing, and watched smiling!

Never mind, I couldn't do it either. Not even observing the angle of the front wagon wheels.

If you have a front hitch on the Mule use it. If you don't have one, add it. My RTV has a receiver hitch on both ends. We use them equally.

 

[ovrszd]

I'm not sure I would consider that to be above us,
seems to me like just more unfunded mandates from the government to follow to aid in their coffers.

Not knowing your history Lou, have you traveled in European or Asian countries much? Tractors on the hiway is very common. Sometimes it's the means of transportation, nothing to do with tractor tasks. Cabless tractors will have a mirror clamped to the vertical exhaust. Seating platforms fastened across the rear fenders. Very common to have hiway speeds in the high 30s or low 40s.

The more developed nations have comprehensive laws in place to control this use just as they do for cars/trucks. The Auto drivers tend to accept the tractors on the road better than we do. We only consider them a distraction.

 

[ovrszd]

Don稚! Don稚!, Don稚 follow ag equipment with a vehicle. If the ag equipment has lights or reflectors, don稚 quadruple the passing distance (i.e. hang other vehicles out in the oncoming traffic lane, making a MORE dangerous situation) when there痴 NO need to.
There no advantage to having a trailing escort vehicle.
Now if it痴 a wide load, a lead vehicle might not be a bad idea.

My area is rolling hills and curvy roads. Large AG equipment almost always uses a lead vehicle. Almost never uses a trailing escort.

 

[ovrszd]

All farmers ever do here is complain. I know it's more complicated than this, but if they don't like, find something else to do. Just tired of hearing farmers (in this country) complain.

You don't usually have airports sharing runways with Jumbos and Cesnas. Who would think that massive farm equipment could share a two lane paved road with vehicles? At least without some basic rules understood by all.

How should they transport?

 

[Jim Nelson]

Before You Dig

When I was working construction we very seldom got into any wiring, plumbing,or gas lines but when we did it was because the locators had mis marked them, usually by 2 or 3 feet. We got to the point that we would always try to pothole with a shovel to be sure there were no utilities where we needed to dig. There is nothing worse than cutting through the T.V. cable when some old rich broad in her estate style home down the road is trying to watch "Days of our lives".

 

[ovrszd]

"farmer wound up 50 feet of fiber optic after busting a handhold" ;
it should have been better protected and more visible.

"they burned their land and used the road as a fire brake melted the the box holding the coil of fiber";
they own and pay taxes to the center of the road in most cases, you have just decided to use the utility easement design for regular and normal occurrences.

"decided to clean the ditch in front of their house with a backhoe on Saturday";
then bury it deeper then the bottom of a ditch should be, too many times cables are put in just a few inches below grade then get po'ed when dug up bury them deeper.

In Missouri, a person brushcuts a fiber optics pedestal he pays for the repair. In Missouri, a person burns the roadbank and destroys a fiber optics pedestal he pays. In Missouri digging without contacting One Call and submitting a request for utility flagging is illegal.

I work with the local utility companies frequently. Have the local guy's Cell Phone numbers stored in my phone. They have mine. Even if I "think" I know where the utility is I submit a One Call ticket. That's my get out of jail free card.

 

[ovrszd]

I知 sure glad we don稚 have to get permits to move cattle from one area to another via a county road or highway. Putting slow moving signs on them would be a pain.

And the cows get real testy.....

 

[ovrszd]

I do not view farming as a job. It is a life. Most farmers are very humble people and care more for others than themselves. They don't ask for a lot and are very thankful for what they have. Very rarely do you hear a farmer complain about anything. Most will pray that God will honor their hard work.

Our nation has about a 6 months food supply. If farmers failed to put in a crop one year, getting food and the basic necessities would be far worse than when Covid hit the world.

I am very thankful for all that served in our military to give us the freedom to have this discussion. Likewise I am very thankful for the life the farmer chose to feed the world.

Amen...

 

[ovrszd]

When I was working construction we very seldom got into any wiring, plumbing,or gas lines but when we did it was because the locators had mis marked them, usually by 2 or 3 feet. We got to the point that we would always try to pothole with a shovel to be sure there were no utilities where we needed to dig. There is nothing worse than cutting through the T.V. cable when some old rich broad in her estate style home down the road is trying to watch "Days of our lives".

I fought the DigRite, One Call system for many years. It used to be a lengthy painful phone conversation trying to tell someone sitting in an office in New Jersey that you don't know the mailing address of the location you are digging because there's not a house in sight!!!!

In the last few years this system has automated into one of the easiest to use programs I've ever saw. I have the AP on my phone. Can submit an accurate request in 3 or 4 minutes. Has my Cell phone number on the request along with my email address. I get immediate response, almost always within 24 hours, gets flagged within 48 hours max. I give them all the lead time I can. It's a great system that saves a lot of mistakes.

I've had the heart stopping moment several times when I come up with a strand of buried fiber optics or older sheathed copper cable that wasn't flagged!!!!! I always stop and call the utility guys for an explanation. It's usually an old cable that's not used anymore. Sure wakes you up though.

 

[John0829]

There needs to be some consideration on all parts. I support the guy on the tractor trying to make a living, not so much the urban folks who own a few acres and a scut thinking they are part of the "rural community" BUT still they live out amongst us. They need to SLOW DOWN, definitely, and learn to share the road and the guy on the tractor, instead of traveling along with a string of traffic a mile long behind needs to be courteous and pull to the side when possible to allow built up traffic to pass. A few minutes extra travel time on either of them is not the end of the world. And before anyone decides to jump on my case about x,y or z must be done "right now" I have put my time in with long hours in the seat of a tractor to get crops in, 16-18+ hour days on construction sites and later public utilities up to my back side in rain or snow so your phone, TV or internet worked when you were home with your feet put up.

There is not a need for more regulation, just more common (good) sense, like not moving the oversize machines after dark or leaving 5 minutes early instead of 10 minutes late. As was stated earlier it has gotten to the point where it is all about "ME" not about what we can do to help and support each other to get through the day.

 

[Diggin It]

^^ Trunk cable along the road has been cut twice in the last three weeks by the same road crew. It was flagged before they cut it the first time. They knew where it was when they cut it the second time.

 

[ovrszd]

^^ Trunk cable along the road has been cut twice in the last three weeks by the same road crew. It was flagged before they cut it the first time. They knew where it was when they cut it the second time.

Not knowing the laws in Uncton I can't address this.

In Missouri, if it's marked accurately and you cut it, you pay for the repair. If you didn't register a request thru DigRite or One Call, you pay for the repair. If it's communication cable you can be charged for the lost revenue. I know of one case that was $750,000 claim.

 

[John0829]

Several years ago we spent a great deal of time replacing telephone pedestals behind a mowing crew. I swear it was a competition to see who could hit the most of them.

 

[ovrszd]

Several years ago we spent a great deal of time replacing telephone pedestals behind a mowing crew. I swear it was a competition to see who could hit the most of them.

I don't remember ever destroying a phone ped. I've knocked down two Power Poles though. Both times absolutely my fault. Both times the Power Company excused me from liability. I attribute that to the great working relationship I keep with the Utility Companies.

In one instance I was cutting a road bank and elevating a roadbed. I had been working under that Power Line for 5 or 6 hours. Had worked around the particular pole many, many times. Was backing along the bank to get another blade full of material. Noticed the Power Lines were directly overhead one second before I hit the pole going 10mph in reverse. The lines landed on top of the grader. Totally freaked me out. Slammed on the brakes and stopped Top of the cab is plastic. Three lines. I called the local lineman and told him the story. He said the power may still be on just sit tight and definitely not get out. A minute later he called me and said he had called the neighbor down the road and she said her power was out. Had thrown the breaker upstream. Said it was safe for me to back out from under the lines. In two hours they had it repaired. We all got a good laugh out of it.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't remember ever destroying a phone ped. I've knocked down two Power Poles though. Both times absolutely my fault. Both times the Power Company excused me from liability. I attribute that to the great working relationship I keep with the Utility Companies.

In one instance I was cutting a road bank and elevating a roadbed. I had been working under that Power Line for 5 or 6 hours. Had worked around the particular pole many, many times. Was backing along the bank to get another blade full of material. Noticed the Power Lines were directly overhead one second before I hit the pole going 10mph in reverse. The lines landed on top of the grader. Totally freaked me out. Slammed on the brakes and stopped Top of the cab is plastic. Three lines. I called the local lineman and told him the story. He said the power may still be on just sit tight and definitely not get out. A minute later he called me and said he had called the neighbor down the road and she said her power was out. Had thrown the breaker upstream. Said it was safe for me to back out from under the lines. In two hours they had it repaired. We all got a good laugh out of it.

Ha ha ha! The old "power lines on the cab" gag! :laughing: Gets em every time!

Call before your dig is great! :thumbsup: As mentioned, it's your get out of jail free card.

A friend of mine called them, they marked his entire yard. He then started digging fence post holes. Cut his neighbor's phone line 5' inside of his own back yard and close to 10' from the mark. SO, he moved over to the other side of the yard and proceeded to cut the other neighbor's phone line. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

Indiana has a slowpoke law for farm equipment. If they are holding up 3 cars or more, they have to pull over at the first safe place possible and let traffic pass. Some don't abide by the law, but most do.

 

[LouNY]

Not knowing your history Lou, have you traveled in European or Asian countries much? Tractors on the hiway is very common. Sometimes it's the means of transportation, nothing to do with tractor tasks. Cabless tractors will have a mirror clamped to the vertical exhaust. Seating platforms fastened across the rear fenders. Very common to have hiway speeds in the high 30s or low 40s.

The more developed nations have comprehensive laws in place to control this use just as they do for cars/trucks. The Auto drivers tend to accept the tractors on the road better than we do. We only consider them a distraction.

Europe no, Southeast Asia yep.
I have followed some of the European tractor regulations as at times various bureaucracies in different states have attempted to shove some similar regulation down our throats.
Anyone who believes that it would be just a minor inconvenience and a minimal expense to keep fully functional lighting on a multitude of farm equipment has absolutely no idea of what would be involved. Much of the equipment in use today especially on the smaller farms and even many of the larger ones is well over 20 years old.
Many of the older tractors do not and have never had anything beyond a flashing lamp mounted on the left fender,
no directionals, 4 way flashers, or even headlamps.
At this time in this state the only thing required in daylight hours is a SMV sign.

I certainly don't consider nations to be more developed because they have more regulations and controls on people.

And as a footnote drivers better accept me on the road with 20-30,000 pounds of tractor, pulling a chopper of a few thousand pounds and a self unloading wagon,
which when empty going to the field is only a couple of thousand pounds but when I'm headed home with my last load of the day another 5-7 tons of silage.
Because I may max out at 15-18 mph and slow down on hills because I've only got 220-250 hp to work with. And I do take up most of our secondary roads.

Oh also those tractors with that high speed are not pulling a heavy load up any kind of grade.

 

[RandyT]

Some of these drivers need to get behind Mike Mitchell and his farming crew/family when they are moving. 6 seed drills pulled by quadtrac tractors with a transport width of 27 feet, and then come harvest time with the 6-7 ideal class 9 combines coming down the road with the 50 foot honeybee air flex draper heads still attached.

 

[ovrszd]

Europe no, Southeast Asia yep.
I have followed some of the European tractor regulations as at times various bureaucracies in different states have attempted to shove some similar regulation down our throats.
Anyone who believes that it would be just a minor inconvenience and a minimal expense to keep fully functional lighting on a multitude of farm equipment has absolutely no idea of what would be involved. Much of the equipment in use today especially on the smaller farms and even many of the larger ones is well over 20 years old.
Many of the older tractors do not and have never had anything beyond a flashing lamp mounted on the left fender,
no directionals, 4 way flashers, or even headlamps.
At this time in this state the only thing required in daylight hours is a SMV sign.

I certainly don't consider nations to be more developed because they have more regulations and controls on people.

And as a footnote drivers better accept me on the road with 20-30,000 pounds of tractor, pulling a chopper of a few thousand pounds and a self unloading wagon,
which when empty going to the field is only a couple of thousand pounds but when I'm headed home with my last load of the day another 5-7 tons of silage.
Because I may max out at 15-18 mph and slow down on hills because I've only got 220-250 hp to work with. And I do take up most of our secondary roads.

Oh also those tractors with that high speed are not pulling a heavy load up any kind of grade.

No argument from me.

Just pointing out that regulations are required where usage is more frequent.

PTSG has an excellent thread on TBN about snow removal involving tractors with plows on public roads. We simply have more "space" to deal with tractors on our public roads here. Not so much in a LOT of countries.