ive lived in the country all my life and find the farmers ability to cover the entire road in very slippy mud without warning infuriating.
before anyone says its country life, i have no problem with following large slow tractors for miles,nor do i mind cocks crowing at 5.30 am , i dont even mind mud on the road if ,as a motorist i got some warning. anyone share my views?
|
Not being funny but judging by what you've said, you come across this sort of thing a lot so what more warning do you need? Assuming there may be slippery mud ahead or round that next bend is probably the best policy for anyone who drives in the country where roads are traditionally narrow, visibility poor and there's always a possibility of an animal or something suddenly appearing from nowehere.
When I drive on country roads I'm always very conscious of what might be ahead whether it be tractors, cars or indeed mud on the road. It is for that reason that when I'm doing so I don't often drive at the speed limit this being defined as the maximum speed allowable under ideal conditions - something it's very hard to find these days.
That having been said I'm sure I've seen road signs giving advance warning where mud etc. is likely to be a problem but many drivers seem to take no notice of these and carry on regardless at or well above the speed limit. Signs are really only of any value if drivers act on them.
|
|
Couldn't agree more but round here it's usually the locals who are driving recklessly and frequently end up in ditches. Herts County Council is addressing this by not mending the road so everybody has to slow down to weave round the potholes.
|
|
There is an obligation on the farmer to keep the road clean. Goodness only knows how.....
|
|
I think farmers do their best, and probably have an obligation, to keep the roads free of mud. The council, to whom we pay taxes of many sorts are also under an obligation to keep the roads free of potholes, snow, ice etc and seem to fall down on most of these. Let's give the people we pay to fo a job a hard time for falling down on their duties before we give too much grief to the farmers.
|
|
Straying so far off topic that it will probably be deleted, I think you'll find that you pay as much to the farmers as you do to your council!
|
Not just the mud on the road what about the cow pat left invariably just around the corner to trap the poor unknowing motorcyclist.
I do not know if farmers are responsible for cleaning the road of any mud they drag onto it.IMHO they should i,ve nearly come a cropper on the motorbike and that is riding well within my limits
|
Not just the mud on the road what about the cow pat left invariably just around the corner to trap the poor unknowing motorcyclist. I do not know if farmers are responsible for cleaning the road of any mud they drag onto it.IMHO they should i,ve nearly come a cropper on the motorbike and that is riding well within my limits
i am aware of the risks of country roads, but i am also a firm believer in sharing the responsibilty of care. builders and refuse workers use \"wheel washes\" after using dirty sites, failing that the use of street sweepers is part of thier duty of care. i understand farming is a vital industry but my experience of farmers is not good. ie following a bail trailer along a b road wanting to overtake but not daring to as there are no indicators fitted to the trailer etc etc.............
|
There's always a price to be paid wherever you live. In the town it's having your car maliciously damaged and your parking place taken, in the country it's having a bit of mud on the road and meeting tractors without lights.
I know which I prefer.
|
in the country it's having a bit of mud on the road and meeting tractors without lights. I know which I prefer.
A friends father once met a tractor with no lights and ended up in hospital for weeks.
|
|
|
|
Farmers are indeed responsible for clearing mud from the roads if the particularly bad, but at the very least they must display Mud On Road signs around entrances to fields etc where they deposit large amounts. I work for an agri machinery dealership and MOR signs are one of our fastest moving lines in the parts dept, there have been several cases where farmers have been sued having left mud on the road and not provided any warning.
If you complain to your local council, they will give the farmer concerned an earbashing and generally make sure the situation improves, be in through signage or cleaning.
There are a number of products available to the farmer to clean mud off roads, the most popular being tractor-mounted brushes. I've sold quite a few to the larger farming companies/more professional farmers who use them to brush out their packhouses and yards as well as cleaning up the entrances to their fields and they work quite well.
|
I know I'm liable to be slated for this - but I find farmers the most irresponsible, inconsiderate, sometimes even plain dangerous drivers on the road. They mess up the road, drive slowly for miles without allowing anyone to pass (despite there being plenty of opportunities to pull in) They don't seem to be a blind bit interested in maintaining rear lights/indicators - far less using them appropriately.Yet at night they drive along with white lights glaring out behind (I thought that was illegal!)They use tractor diesel for heating their homes and running their cars(when they can get away with it)They have a cavalier attitude to maintaining fences, so that animals are freqently straying across the road.........
Yet how much does it cost to road tax a tractor? Last I heard it was a trivial amount. Can anyone quote me the current fee?
Graeme
|
|
Unfaar to most law-abiding hard working ones though. Just like any other group people there are good and bad ones. Most around my neck of the woods work hard for very little return.
|
I totally agree about farmers being hard working. Our neighbour is a farmer (and generally very responsible / courteous), but this doesn't always equate with their sense of courtesy to other road users. They often seem to be a law unto themselves as regards road manners and maintenance of vehicles (lights in particular)On the rare occasions that I take my trailer out to cart a load of garden rubbish to the skip I check all the lights etc religiously - yet I see tractors and trailers passing daily day with smashed/obscured/inoperative rear lights - not to mention number plates that don't match.
So they get away with all this, cause danger and frustration to other road users yet don't pay a penny on road tax! Fuel is cheap for them too - they have their own tanks of red diesel.
I don't see that mileage has anything to do with it either - my mum's Clio is coming up to MOT/road tax/insurance time and I see it hasn't done 1000 miles since last year. Yet she pays £165 for a year's tax alone (more, in fact than my 2.2 C5, which does about 15,000 miles a year. That can't be fair!
Rant over.
Graeme
|
|
i believe they are exempt now from tax ie road fund licence i think it was getting difficult to enforce due to some other regs like sorn and the fact that tractors were exempt so long as they only done limited road travel ie from one field to another (limited mileage thing) i was told it was a trade off over fuel prices .
|
The bloke who farms next to my dad has recently been prosecuted for manslaughter. He was aquitted, but it was a close run thing. He was harvesting beet and the road was muddy. His Mud on Road sign wasn't very big. The local doctor's wife came round a bend in her kit car, skidded on the mud, left the road and was killed.
The case was widely reported in the farming press, and I would be surprised if it has not had a major impact on farmers.
|
In another recent case a sports car driver who wrote off his car after skidding on mud sued the farmer. He lost because the judge said that a driver should expect to find mud on roads in the country.
I thought it had always been the case that the mud spreader was responsible for clearing it up. We used to have to in the Army after crossing a road with our vehicles.
imo it is morally the fault of the mud depositor if an accident is caused, and if it isn't already, should be legally so as well. How far can it be allowed to go? Let's say a particular farmer is not very nice and comntinually drives in and out of a muddy field. At what level does the mud become unacceptable, if at all?
|
|
I was on a country road the other week, and for about 100 yards between two entrances the road was literally under 6 inches of mud. Even at a max of 20 mph I could feel the car stuttering from side to side as it hit bigger clods. God alone knows what would have happened had I not been paying as much attention.
|
I was under the distinct impression that the farmer was wholly responsible for MOR, and furthermore that if he/she/they displayed MOR signs then that sealed their fate completely. Perhaps 'Pug' can advise.
Regards.
|
|
It sounds a bit like snow/ice outside your house. No legal responsibility to clear it, but if you do and someone slips, you become liable. Or so it always said.
|
As I understand the situation:-
It is an offence under Section 148 Highways Act 1980 for any person to allow soil / debris from land adjacent to a public highway to fall, be washed or carried onto the road.
As this may be a danger to road users and have the potential to cause accidents. It is essential, when carrying out operations, which may create such conditions, for the person responsible to display special temporary road warning signs.
They must also put in place adequate facilities to minimise the risks and to arrange for the road to be cleaned, throughout the time that work is going on.
The Highways Authority have a statutory duty to maintain the Highway for the safe passage of road users.
District Councils are responsible under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for keeping roads clean \"so far as this is practicable\".
The Police have powers to caution or prosecute persons depositing mud or other dirt to be deposited on the highway. The Police also have the powers to order the removal of the debris and the road to be cleaned.
That takes care of the legal bit, DVD or PU please advise if wrong.
Farmers, law unto themselves.
:ducks down, dons helmet and flak jacket, runs for cover:
|
|
How come it's ok for farmers to create mud/pooh skid pans but not construction sites for which wheel washers, sweepers, etc. are manadatory. The slightest hint of mother earth on the highaway and the authorities are down with their own ton of bricks.
|
How come it's ok for farmers to create mud/pooh skid pans
Surely you've missed the point, which is that it isn't ok for farmers to create mud skid pans, however it appears that the situation is not policed / enforced.
Note by saying "policed" I'm not specifically having a go at the
b-i-b, but all the responsible persons including the perpetrators themselves.
FiF
|
Spot on FiF.
Also S 161 : covers anything deposited on highway in consequence a user is injured or endangered.
LA have power to order removal of detritus.
Re MT's comments it is because the planning authority for the Construction site stipulate that this has to be carried out or else.
Warning signs not a legal obligation on the criminal side but may have an effect on the civil side.
Being an old codger the thread brings sadness for bygone days when PC Duncan Disordeley on his Country Beat would cycle along the byways of his patch and have a word with the offending farmer. As Chief Constable he looked after it. Now you see police with Corsa's stitched to their backsides drive through without stopping or taking action. They call it progress??????
DVD
|
" Being an old codger the thread brings sadness for bygone days when PC Duncan Disordeley on his Country Beat would cycle along the byways of his patch and have a word with the offending farmer."
Funny you should say that DVD, personal experience leads me to suggest that occasionally there are fringe benefits for PC Duncan Disordeley.
I bet you didn't know that exactly these circumstances led to a walk down the aisle and ultimately another FiF generation to plague us all.
|
Funny - I thought I'd be ducking for cover too.Retaliation has been less than swift! Do we not have any farmers in the backroom?
To me, the 'Mud on the Road' signs are like a red rag to a bull (no pun intended!) As much as to say, 'By sticking up this notice, we've absolved ourselves from all responsibility, so if you get a touch of our slippery stuff over your chassis, that's just tough!'
I see these things more as an admission of guilt. If the mess is bad enough to need a specific warning, it must be hazardous and hazards ought to be removed.
I once knocked over a tin of paint in B&Q - an assistant immediately put up a sign AND started cleaning it up. It would have been unthinkable just to put up a sign and wait for an army of shoppers to slither around for the rest of the day - and spread the mess all over the shop.
I reckon the same principle applies.
Graeme
|
|
|
|
