Mud on roads

[Mo1959]

Anyone else cycle in rural areas finding the roads are in a terrible state just now with mud?

I appreciate farmers have to travel between fields with tractors and ploughs, etc but I always thought they were supposed to clean the roads of mud by at least the end of the working day.

Glad I have my cheapie hybrid to use as there is no way I would want to use a decent bike just now. Pretty sure I will have to pop it into the local bike shop at the end of the winter and get a complete new chain set.

 

[snorri]

No problems with mud from agricultural activity, but I wish the council would clear roadside culverts instead of putting out road flooded signs and waiting for water to evaporate after heavy rainfall.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Yes, they are in a state at the moment. Most minor roads local to me have more mud than usual on them this autumn and some are quite bad, such as on this recent ride.

I have already put my good bike away for the winter and will be using the knockabout bike 'til things improve.

 

[psmiffy]

Get real it is all part of the cost of bringing our food to the table - In my experience farmers are the first to moan if you leave mud on the roads - I was at a landfill site the other day when a local farmer popped into complain to the operations manager about the state of of the road leading up to the landfill - she was rather red faced when it was pointed out that it was her sugar beet operations that were causing the problem.

 

[Mo1959]

Get real it is all part of the cost of bringing our food to the table .

Appreciate they have a job to do, but at the end of the day, they are actually breaking the law. Wouldn't take much to buy or hire a road sweeper even between a few farms and have someone go out at the end of the day to clean up.

 

[Globalti]

Ha ha get real! Can you see farmers paying to clean a road when they know the rain will be along soon?

 

[Mo1959]

Ha ha get real! Can you see farmers paying to clean a road when they know the rain will be along soon?

Quote taken from National Farmers Union.

Depositing mud on the road is an offence under the Highways Act. It is the legal responsibility of the farmer to ensure that every precaution is taken to avoid any mud being carried off the field. Accepting that in cultivating and harvesting operations some mud will inevitably end up on the road, it is important to make arrangements to remove it immediately.

 

[GrasB]

Anyone else cycle in rural areas finding the roads are in a terrible state just now with mud?

I appreciate farmers have to travel between fields with tractors and ploughs, etc but I always thought they were supposed to clean the roads of mud by at least the end of the working day.

Glad I have my cheapie hybrid to use as there is no way I would want to use a decent bike just now. Pretty sure I will have to pop it into the local bike shop at the end of the winter and get a complete new chain set.

Yeah, I've had to give up on several steep back road climbs on my FWD 'bent due to traction issues.

 

[Boris Bajic]

I am a city boy who moved to Farmershire about 15 years ago. It can be a hazard when cycling, but in most cases it is quite unrealistic to expect farmers to clear it up.

When the mud gets very wet or very cold, it becomes a very real skid hazard for bicycles and motorcycles - even for cars.

I ride regularly through mud trails between the gates of certain fields. At this time of the year it is everywhere.

But... It has ever been so and will ever be so. If you are riding in the countyside and are not expecting to find muddy roads, prepare to be disappointed. The above quote is very worthy and noble. For many farmers it is also a realistic impossibility.

I don't paticularly like the mud, but it will be there next year as it was last year. We ought to get used to it.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

No problems with mud from agricultural activity, but I wish the council would clear roadside culverts instead of putting out road flooded signs and waiting for water to evaporate after heavy rainfall.

^This. All my local on road mud is from construction activity. A condition of planning permission was wheel washing. They ain't doing it, the local authority aren't going to enforce the condition.

 

[4F]

Mud in countryside shocker

 

[sidevalve]

I seem to remember we've been here before. Now, as then, the real problem isn't mud which either dries and crumbles away or gets washed off [depending on the weather] but slurry. Ths sticks like, well slurry, it cakes over on top leaving a jelly like slippery goo inside, just waiting to catch out cyclists, m/cyclists and even car drivers if it's a big patch. As I also said before the farmers would soon complain if you dumped several gallons of waste oil in their fields. Mud around a field gate is one thing, a big slimy slick down the road is another.

 

[Globalti]

What happened to the idea that when cycling in the countryside you keep your eyes open and take action to avoid hazards? I watch out for gravel on corners, potholes, repair strips, manhole covers, spilled diesel, wet patches, so mud on the road is just another minor hazard.

 

[Hitchington]

 

[Cubist]

http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/November_2008/goldstein.htm