Yesterday, I had to travel 2 miles thru a single lane farm track! The shoulders were so high that it wasn't possible for moving side wise to allow another vehicle to pass.
Luckily, I passed without any oncoming vehicle.
But what is the usual rule for traveling thru these roads? (I usually never go in there - but incidentally I had to go).
Edited by movilogo on 05/03/2008 at 12:30
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The guy in the big tractor has right of way.
Reason - Apart from being a big tractor you are almost certainly on private property - his property!
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The usual drill is to remember where the last passing point was - if you're both 'locals' the nearest to that point will usually back-up. If you've met a non-local - well, pot luck I'm afraid, unless they're on the ball.
As far as the point made about 'farmer & big tractor' - yes, they could well be chauvinistic about it, but they'll probably want the quickest outcome & will more than likely back-up or indicate where you can if they know it's quicker.
Incidentally, in law, the 'private land/lane' aspect doesn't preclude your access - if you've reasonable to cause to use the lane and/or visit the house, you can't be chased-off, as it were, and the landowner can't obstruct your access.
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Having had this a few times on single lane rural roads, I find the bigger car gets through easier - its not uncommon to find me reversing half a mile to get somewhere to pull in!!
If you've got identical cars, its probably pot luck. I remember when out in heavy rain meeting a Jeep Grand Cherokee (I was in the Shogun at the time), but the lady driving the Jeep looked somewhat concerned, so I reversed back a couple of hundred yards, and dropped the Shogun into a field entrance (I couldn't see a thing - it really was like driving blind). But she was grateful!
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I wonder why people travel thru single lane farm tracks!
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Pardon? why ask the initial question then..?
btw - it's 'through' , not 'thru'.
Edited by woodbines on 05/03/2008 at 14:09
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I live half-way down a single lane farm track. It's never been a problem for me or the farm vehicles, given normal common-sense, courtesy and a realisation that it's easier for me to reverse than for a 10ft wide combine to do so.
(Apart from an occasion when an especially stupid Plod thought he'd park on the roadway instead of in a gateway and disappeared for half an hour!)
Edited by A11DNL on 05/03/2008 at 17:20
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I wonder why people travel thru single lane farm tracks! To deliver feed to farms; it\'s what I do for a living!
A few tips for novices;
1) As has been said, remember where the last passing place/gateway was.
2) Give way to vehicles coming UP hills where possible.
3) Don\'t expect lorries to reverse for you; apart from the fact that in a car you have the advantage of a rear window, you also have better traction in reverse and are better able to get into a gap.
4) Don\'t just look at the road; look OVER hedges where possible, you get advance warning of anything big coming the other way.
5) DO NOT take caravans or trailers down narrow lanes unless you can reverse them as proficiently as you can tow them.
6) If you\'re sitting in a passing-place waiting for a lorry or tractor to pass you, DO NOT MOVE as he makes his manoevre. In the unlikely event that he hits your vehicle, if you\'re stationary it\'s his fault.
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5) DO NOT take caravans or trailers down narrow lanes unless you can reverse them as proficiently as you can tow them.
That was a painful reminder of when we had our \'van and I missed the turnoff to Bala - checked the map and saw there was a B road connecting the two roads so headed off - it soon went narrow - but I though its a B road, it\'ll get wider soon! But no, it stayed single track all the way - luckily I didn\'t meet anything! Damn Welsh B roads!!
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Damn Welsh B roads!!
I can assure you some of the \"A\" roads ain\'t much better! ;-)
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But she was grateful!
I assume the exclamation mark at the end of that sentence is meant to convey to us that she showed her gratitude in a way which you daren't be specific about. The mind boggles. ;-)
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There's always one who lowers the tone - l-escargot
All I meant is that she was grateful - its something that you don't find too often on the road these days.
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Pardon? why ask the initial question then..?
Well, I entered that road by mistake! Somebody told me that I could avoid the town traffic.
If I had known it earlier, it would have not entered.
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Well I entered that road by mistake! Somebody told me that
A real person? Sounds like a job for (drumroll) *SATNAV*!
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A real person? Sounds like a job for (drumroll) *SATNAV*!
No a real person - a colleague of mine! She told me that she sometimes took this route. However, today when I demanded an explanation, she told me that she actually mentioned the the earlier exit which I missed.
Basically I recently moved house and was looking for a quicker route.
Now I'll rather take the main road than farm track!
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In effect, the vehicle that is more difficult to manoevre, or the one with the less competent driver, has priority, for everyone's convenience. If you meet a car driven by a helpless-looking lady on a narrow bridge, it saves a lot of time if you reverse 75 yards rather than waiting for her to get her head round the need to reverse ten yards. And she may well reward you with a lovely smile and the wave of a slim white hand. And of course if she gives you a furious scowl for daring to be on the same bit of road as her, you can always collapse in howls of laughter.
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the vehicle that is more difficult to manoevre or the one with the less competent driver has priority for everyone's convenience.
My thoughts too Lud.
And helps if the other driver has manners and some sense of courtesy.
I once had a really annoying one in the Lake District. I was driving down a winding single track road (public road not farm track) in our MX-5, and met a BMW X5 coming the other way. Reversing to a passing place would have been tricky for both of us, so I gamely started to mount the 8" high grass verge to make room (in our sports car with limited ground clearance); and expected him to do the same on his side (in his 4x4).
But no the X5 driver started edging forward to take advantage of the gap I had made for him, and made little attempt to move further over, presumably didnt want to get his tyres dirty. And as we passed he gave not the slightest gesture of acknowledgement!
I felt like reversing all the way back up and having a right go at him but my other half calmed me down..
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I use a tarmac'd single track lane every night on the way home, and can assure you that probably once a fortnight I will meet a vehicle coming the opposite way. Generally not tractors though....
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Be very careful of hidden rocks in the verge if you do decide to pull over...
.... because in a situation just like those described above I pulled pulled up onto the verge and there was a lovely big boulder lurking beneath the long grass which made a right mess of the n/s sill of the brand new Golf I was driving.
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There's always one who lowers the tone - l-escargot
Fame at last. Yippee.
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Sorry L, not fame, infamy.
Infamy!, infamy!, they've all got it infamy! With all due respect to Frankie Howard.
Well you have to to don't you?
JH
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Infamy! infamy! they've all got it infamy! With all due respect to Frankie Howard.
It was Kenneth Williams originally
I can remember that, it's last week I can't remember ;-)
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I live half a mile up a farm track with a blind bend around a 2m high hedge which is also the entrance to a livery yard.
If you come round the bend there's a 200m stretch of track before it meets the road, so if you've just rounded the bend and there's a car coming towards you it's a judgement call as to who is closest to a passing place to decide who backs up.
I can't tell you the number of times I've been 50 metres from the bend (ie 150 metres to back up) and been faced with a driver who has come round the bend and then just sat there looking blankly at me, unable to reverse 50m backwards round a bend.
I can tell you what gender they are though.
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If the road is on a slope and the passing place is soft, it is better if the downhill-facing car pulls over, regardless of which side of the road it is on.
Likewise it is silly waiting by a tight passing place on the right and expecting a lorry to pull into it.
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