Big tractors usually with even wider trailors being driven like everyone should get out of the way for them!

[Accy cyclist]

I remember these things from my cycling days. On hearing them approaching from behind I gave a silent prayer to the cycling gods to look over me!🙄 I live a few yards from a main road and hear them before I see the things. The other day as I was attempting to cross on the zebra crossing outside where I live, one such object approached at speed like no way was it going to stop for me. I decided it best to not step onto those black and white markings in case I got mowed down. Please discuss!🧐

 

[mikeIow]

I’d have been tempted to step out to hear the brakes/horn, or be ready to leap back…

They have got a rough job, delivering our food in increasingly big vehicles on roads that remain stubbornly narrow (certainly on the IOW)….& yes, I feel they often barrel down the road too fast 🙄
Time for more sleeping policemen on regularly used lanes 🤷‍♂️

 

[Drago]

Agricultural vehicles used to be rich pickings fkr a bobby behind on his ticket quota.

 

[SteveH80]

I just get out of the way, many tons of tractor and trailer doesn't stop or handle too well.
Fortunately most of the lanes I cycle are too small for the real monsters, but I've still got to get off the road to let the normal sized ones pass.

 

[Drago]

I just get out of the way, many tons of tractor and trailer doesn't stop or handle too well.

Which begs the question as to why the drivers tend to drive like Ben Hur instead of driving with the diligence and circumspection that piloting a big unwieldy blancmange requires?

As aforementioned, it was almost inevitable than an agricultural vehicle would be good for a driving, document or con & use offence. Wracking my brains now I don't recall atopping one where there wasn't something worthy of at least an FPN. It all came down to how much of a p**** they decided to behave like once you spoke to them as to whether they got a sheet of the worlds most expensive bog roll.

Considering that their big, heavy vehicles tend not to stop or handle too well the typical drivers attitude to road safety was frightening. Due diligence and caution cost nothing more than a wee bit of effort and good intentions. Driving like a twit saves neither or time, only effort.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I used to drive such things in narrow country roads. It seemed mostly the younger cowboys who'd drive like that, forgetting that stopping distance is long, especially towing big stuff. They often drove the same in the fields, but drivers are hard to come by so a lot have to put up with yeehar drivers

 

[Dorset Boy]

Apart from having gone supersized over the last 20 years, and more often than not being too big and heavy for the roads they are using, they are agricultural contractors and the drivers (usually 16/17 yos with girlfriend in cab) are paid piecework, so the more loads they do the more they get paid.
Therefore they drive far too fast and everyone else needs to scatter quickly when they approach.

 

[Drago]

Driving like a tool doesn't get them through the job any quicker. We've all had a kamikaze pilot in a 3 series bust their nuts to overtake only for us to carry on at a sensible pace and five minutes later haul them back at the next set of lights or junction. And so it is with Johnny Spottybibum in Thunderbird 2.

It gives only the illusion of pace - it doesnt actually deliver it.

 

[Binky]

Tractors are worse than regular cars/vans around here. I live and ride in a quietish rural/coastal area with lots of farms. Tractors have been some of the worst and most dangerous close passes I've had. The ones coming from opposite direction towards me are worse than the ones who overtake. Get some who hurtle down a country lane and don't slow or move over at all so I've had to take evasive action by steering into hedge to avoid been hit.
What's laughable is those who defend them saying "they're working and providing us with food" which is supposedly a defence for endangering another road user.

 

[fossyant]

I suspect rushing to get a harvest in, which isn't an excuse, but it's best sometimes to avoid certain roads when the nearby farms are actively shifting produce. Even with good driving, these things take up the road.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

What's laughable is those who defend them saying "they're working and providing us with food" which is supposedly a defence for endangering another road user.

Food scarcity, less people to feed 😳

 

[Binky]

I suspect rushing to get a harvest in, which isn't an excuse, but it's best sometimes to avoid certain roads when the nearby farms are actively shifting produce. Even with good driving, these things take up the road.

Get it all year around so definitely not specific to harvest etc. And zero excuse whatever. Currently around here get combine harvesters on the roads which need a lot of space and usually they are slower. What I've found are the regular tractors/trailers are biggest problem.

 

[slowereveryyear]

Living in a rural part of France tractors are an everyday thing to be aware of.
Tractors, like cars, have gotten much bigger. Really more suited to the grain belt of the US.
Most dangerous time is when maize is being harvested for silage. This means the farmer hires a very expensive machine. this cuts, chops up and blows the results out of a large tube into a trailer. The farmers all get together and arrange a relay of tractors and trailers to ferry this back to the silage site.
Narrow lanes, large tractors and the need to get back for the next load is a dangerous mix.
When we hear one approaching we stop and get as far off the road as possible.
I try to remind myself that the farmers produce what we eat🤔.

 

[T4tomo]

Farmers feed the world, get out of their way and let them get on with it. That includes the old bill!
😉🤣

 

[classic33]

Not all are used in agricultural work.
They're use in construction works is growing, which might be why we're seeing them more all year round.

Those in use on farms at this time of year tend to be be driven better than those in towns. The drivers know that if they get stopped they lose time, time is money. And if stopped only once, they'll never get the time back.
I'll let them past when I'm able, and it's safe for both of us. But, whether they're in front or behind they make an excellent safety break from cars.