Do tractors etc feel bad about going slow??

[fairy!]

This is a bit of a random one...

I live out in the sticks & travel 10 miles to work in the nearest town down a windy main road... this road is very busy during rush hour, as everyone from the countryside is driving in to town.

Twice this week I have got behind a slow-moving vehicle (tractor, horse-box, lorry full of cattle...) doing about 30mph for the whole 10 miles, causing a huge trail of traffic coz there is nowhere to overtake...

I know everyone has the right to use the roads at any time, but I just wondered if farmers etc sit there & think "oh sh*t I forgot it's rush hour, I'm holding all these people up" or are they just not bothered??

I'm not having a go so please don't be nasty... just curious!!

[smudge]

I don't live in the countryside, but I expect the farmer is just doing his job the same as everyone else.

If he/she sat in the wings waiting for the rush hour to pass, then he'd never get home in time for his tea either!

[stoo_pid]

I'm not convinced they couldn't do that work at other times of the day.  I'm not aware of many farmers working a 9-5 day...

In fairness, on a couple of occassions I been behind a tractor drivers that has pulled over for a minute to allow traffic to pass but its certainly not the norm.

There are stretches of the A1 (I think) where tractors & slow-moving vehicles are specifically prohibited at morning & evening rush-hours.  Can't remember exactly where but I have seen them & wish they were in place where I live!

[smudge]

P.S. However, it can be very frustrating!

[IndieSinger]

Just to back up stoo-pid, the section of the A1(M), which is prohibited to tractors etc. at certain times is just North of Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

[Shire]

Yes it can be frustrating, and I hate being stuck behind a slow vehicle as much as anyone.  Bear in mind however, that horseboxes and other livestock transport have no choice but to go slow, as sudden braking will throw the animals around.  I help my mate with his horses, and if I see a large queue behind us, I just like to think that people have it in them to be patient, and wait for a suitable place to overtake.

Maybe farmers could travel at other times of the day, but then many schoolchildren that are taken to school in big 4 x 4's that clog up our town centres could also walk or get the bus to school, but their parents are able to choose to drive them, just as the farmer is able to choose when to use the roads.

[smudge]

I agree with you Shire.

[dmsjps]

I live in the country and I know some farmers will pull over whenever there's a chance to let the traffic go past. They're the ones we should be singling out and giving praise to because they're OK.

 

But then you get the other farmers who think it's funny to hold you up, or they just don't care whether you get to work or home or wherever on time or not, because they can hold up loads of traffic if they want to because they've got nothing better to do while they're rolling along in their tractor, trundling past every layby - 'Har-har. aren't I funny? I don't give a ****!' They're the ones you get stuck behind who never pull over.

Unfortunately, the latter are the majority - and my husband was born and bred into farming and he says the same thing because he was one of the former examples, so I'm not biased!

 

I don't think you're 'having a go'. I'm glad to see that not everybody walks (or drives) around thinking all farmers are friendly and cute cos they're not; they're hard-nosed businessmen and some of them have a mean streak inside them!

[cockneyexile]

as a hgv driver i do feel bad and think the fault lies with the goverment not many motorists realise that on a single carriage way national speed limit road we are limited by law to travel at a maximum spees of 40 mph  many motorists think no cameras no police patrol so speed up no one will know but they are wrong as my driving speed is recorded on my tachograph so open to examination by police and ministry of transport officers one last thing for example the speed limit on a36 road for cars is 70 mph go through a camera at that speed in your car no problem in a truck try it a 45mph flash and 3 penalty points are the reward so while i simpathise with your point and personally will always wave a car past me if safe to do so you now can see the reasons for slow speeds from our point of veiw

[fairy!]

Thanks cockneyexile I had no idea HGVs etc had slower speed limits on regular roads... guess I should have paid more attention to the highway code! :-)

[verrecchia]

If they and caravaners felt bad they wouldn't be on the roads, and they would at least pull over every few miles to let the queue of 500 cars pass them, I love to drive up to Oban , and in winter it's a dream drive, no traffic, and plenty of people who wave you past or pull over to allow you to pass, In summer, it's a nightmare, caravans Tractors, Motorhomes, and none of them ever pull over to allow the build up to pass, one notable drive it took us 2 hours longer to get there, because of some plonker, who refused to pull over, on a long stretch of the road as it bend thru a pass, I could see down the valley and I counted 60 vehicles in the queu and the front was still not visible

[verrecchia]

P.S, it actually states in the Highway Code and the Driving Manual that, slow vehicles shopuld pull over at regular intervals to allow a build up of traffic to pass.