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

[Binky]

whether they're in front or behind they make an excellent safety break from cars.

Issue can be they're often more of a danger than cars. And lots don't have abs so if they have to suddenly brake sharply they go into an uncontrolled skid due to driving faster than safe for the conditions.

 

[Sharky]

Had a bit of a scare a few days ago. The route I use is mostly single country roads, but always enough room to squeeze past an on coming car.

This time, I was going quite fast and coming out of a bend, was a huge farming vehicle in front of me. It had stopped, but was covering the road from hedge to hedge.

I had to switch from "Tom Pidcock" mode to stationery, in the blink of an eye. Just managed to stop in time, pulling myself into the hedgerow.

 

[Dorset Boy]

It's an all year round issue.
They're either spreading shite on the fields, ploughing, seeding, cutting for sileage or hay, or harvesting.
The spreading shite on the fields seems to go on for 10 months of the year!
Harvesting maize in September/October leaves so much mud on the roads which they rarely then clear up causing a further hazard to other road users.

 

[Webbo2]

When I go for a ride in order not to use the main A road I use a minor road parallel to it and the tractors blast up and down fortunately you can usually either hear or see them coming. There is a hill that leads to a bridge over the disused railway and it’s about a fifty foot drop down to the bottom. One hero took the bend on to the bridge so fast he went straight over the bridge. I don’t think he killed himself but he was in a bad way.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

I have a bit of maybe excessive focus on motor vehicles saying "thank you" when I pull in to allow them to pass (I generally pull over at the first opportunity as I'd rather have a happy driver moving away from me than a frustrated driver approaching). But I do notice when they don't say "thanks" (eg flash hazards, wave, etc.)

I find tractors very very rarely say "thanks", they just expect you to get out of their way.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

I used to drive such things in narrow country roads.

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

Back in the days working on farms I none had any tractors anything like the size even small farms have these days.

But standards of maintenance were also a lot lower. I remember one summer driving corn trailers (taking wheat from field back to storage, big heavy trailers) and the tractor had 30° free play in the steering - going downhill with the trailer trying to push you faster thrashing the wheel around with all the play wasn't fun. But only had to do that for a few weeks *(but long days).

 

[Profpointy]

In fairness I have not personally seen tractors or agricultural vehicle driven recklessly. No doubt it does happen, but it's
not something I've particularly noticed.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Happens frequently here in the Lake District.

Last time was just 2 days ago whilst travelling in our car a tractor with 4 huge wheels came barrelling around a bend in the opposite direction to us.

He was about a foot and a half over the broken white line down the centre of the road.

We came virtually to a halt as it whizzed by driven by the obligatory 17/18 year old guy driving the monster with very little regard for other road users.

They are a real menace when driven like this.

 

[gbb]

Met quite a few on holday, its harvest time adter all.
Same rule I always stuck to is applied whether im on a bike, walking or driving...just get to one side, let it pass, then off you go.
I even adopt the same approach on a bike, on a narrow road with an oncoming car...just stop to one side, allow them through and ride on and enjoy the day.
I even smile, nod and wave as they go past

 

[Electric_Andy]

It's an all year round issue.
They're either spreading shite on the fields, ploughing, seeding, cutting for sileage or hay, or harvesting.
The spreading shite on the fields seems to go on for 10 months of the year!
Harvesting maize in September/October leaves so much mud on the roads which they rarely then clear up causing a further hazard to other road users.

Dairy farms are in a real pinch, the overheads are going sky high and the milk prices are dropping. The ones that have survived until now, have to keep growing. This means more manure production, which they spread because fertilizer is now so much more expensive. You also get hefty fines if your slurry pit overflows and seeps into water ways.

When my parents sold their farm, the huge neighbouring dairy farm wanted to buy it, just so they could spread slurry on the 100 acres

 

[Toshiba Boy]

Down here in very rural / coastal West Somerset, where the vast majority of roads are winding, hilly lanes, the local tractors are definitely bigger than 20 years ago, and driven flipping quickly ("what 20mph speed limit, I got 20 acres, you got 43......."etc.)

Notice, as others have said, that the young lads are somewhat faster then the older farmers are, although they don't exactly hang around either ..... just wait until they deliver on their promise of a "brand new combine harvester" ....

 

[presta]

Like this, you mean?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Driving up to my sister's place in East Yorkshire I go along one stretch of road, a 2 lane A road - 60 limit - with plenty of straight bits but also a lot of blind summits. You get a lot of these big agricultural things waddling along for a bit and then turning off. I just settle down in the queue behind and wait for them to turn off. But some of the overtaking that results is absolutely hair-raising. I'm told that fatalities on that road are pretty common and I can believe it.

 

[ColinJ]

@PaulSB fell victim to one of those crazy tractor drivers a couple of years ago!

 

[Homers Double]

They are driven like race cars and quite often by young farmhands. We have two farms behind our house and the drivers are kids in comparison. You (they) can drive a tractor under certain limits from 16yrs of age.