Fookin' Farmers

[Willy Nilly]

This is a tricky one.

This year has been very wet, people are desperately trying to get their autumn harvested crops off the fields and their autumn sown crops in.

You said they were sweeping the road. When ever I've done it you just get a load of abuse and or people get so close you can't work, let alone safely. The machinery will be dragging mud out onto the road faster than it can be swept up and also holding the traffic up, the sweeper will also be holding the traffic up and so everyone's knickers will be in a twist.

Sports bikes don't seem to like mud and ice, but I've ridden mine on snowy roads and it's just a case of riding very smoothly. Maybe Mr ZX rider got a bit panicky having not clocked the mud early enough. If you are using rural roads there will be mud on them when it is wet no matter what is going on in the fields.

A muddy car is no big deal, the mud will be very fertile, so scoop it up and put it on your garden. Most cars will be covered in salt and traffic film for the next 5 or 6 moths anyway.

[thinfourth2]

Pique said:

Living on the rural Dorset / Somerset border I encounter our agricultural friends quite often, and frequently enjoy being stuck behind tractors for miles of winding country road. I thought I had seen the worst the area had to offer until I was driving to see my parents last weekend! Coming down the road ahead of me I can see two tractors, holding up traffic so that they can complete an manoeuvre into an adjacent field - no problem there. But when I get to the junction the state of the road is a shock - literally 2-3 inches deep in wet mud, with no proper forewarning. I had to slow down for the tractors to make their turn so the lack of grip did not come at a silly speed, but even at 5 mph turning the wheel had literally no effect.

This mudbath carried on for a good 700 yards - as I crawl down it I turn to the OH and said "this is going to cause an accident." The bloody farmers were compounding the problem by using a rotary powered sweeper on the front of another tractor - which instead of moving the mud was simply spreading it around for everyone to enjoy

I completed my journey in one piece but with literally the dirtiest car I have ever witnessed - the fields worth of mud left on the drive after yesterdays' wash was a sight to behold. So imagine my surprise when looking through the local rag there is a small article about a motorcycle accident - some unfortunate has put down his Kawasaki ZX on the mud on that sunday afternoon. No injuries apparently - but had the guy died god forbid the potato-headed wkers would have been staring down the barrel of a manslaughter charge.

If the rider of the ZX is reading this - I hope you're ok - and I hope you can recover some costs from the perpetrators.

What the fk do you want

Hover tractors?

They to get out and lick the road clean

I hope you never ever eat a potato

[Chicane-UK]

Was going to say - there isn't much they could do about it really!

[Rushmore]

I dont understand this farming thing anyway.

If people are hungry, let them eat chips.

[v8will]

It seems the world would be a happier place without:

1. Gritters (and associated guff about pros/cons for winter tyres)
2. Tractors/agricultural machinery
3. HGVs

[Pique]

To be clear I wasn't bothered about the state of the car - just that in todays health & safety climate (see the M5 accident thread) you can get away with turning the road into a skating rink and it's ok because you need to harvest your crops or whatever. Either way - if your doing something that will endanger everyone using the road, then inform the local authorities first so that they can sort out proper signage and traffic control.

[N Dentressangle]

Willy Nilly said:

This is a tricky one.

This year has been very wet, people are desperately trying to get their autumn harvested crops off the fields and their autumn sown crops in.

Exactly. The windows of opportunity for farmers to work this year haven't been great, and the ground is still sodden and heavy.

I ride a bike, I'm not a farmer, but you do have to reckon on meeting tractors, mud and associated hazards on country roads and ride accordingly. Farmers, like building contractors, do have an obligation to clear up the mess their vehicles make, but we have to be realistic about what they can do.

If you really think the road needs cleaning properly then you could always report the job to the council?

[IATM]

Pique said:

To be clear I wasn't bothered about the state of the car - just that in todays health & safety climate (see the M5 accident thread) you can get away with turning the road into a skating rink and it's ok because you need to harvest your crops or whatever. Either way - if your doing something that will endanger everyone using the road, then inform the local authorities first so that they can sort out proper signage and traffic control.

Id say that is a very fair point - once again its about consideration for others and no one seems to give a dam these days

[off_again]

Its a tough one and I can see it from both sides. But, the farmer has a responsibility to ensure that he / she is not making the roads dangerous and the do have a responsibility to make sure they clearly sign, take measures to limit the mud and clean up later.

A quick search of the NFU website came up with the following:

http://www.nfuonline.com/Our-work/Farm-safety/Guid...

So yes, it has been very wet and muddy and yes it is difficult keep the mud to a minimum. Additionally, this is yet another factor that a rider or driver must consider and they should adjust their driving style and speed accordingly. However, there is no getting away from the fact that farmers have a legal responsibility and in some cases they just ignore it.

[Willy Nilly]

Pique said:

To be clear I wasn't bothered about the state of the car - just that in todays health & safety climate (see the M5 accident thread) you can get away with turning the road into a skating rink and it's ok because you need to harvest your crops or whatever. Either way - if your doing something that will endanger everyone using the road, then inform the local authorities first so that they can sort out proper signage and traffic control.

What they are bring out of the field is a perishable product. It needs harvesting now, not next month, now. If they are bringing the mud out on the a dual carriageway, that is slightly different, but you really should expect some mud on rural roads, it's not ideal, but that's life. If it makes you feel better, if it is that muddy, it will be knocking 7 shades of st of out the machinery and the damage done to the land will take years to repair. You know all that produce that is in your local supermarket? Well, that may have been harvested in the conditions about which you are moaning. Have a nice dinner tonight.

[Pique]

I knew this thread would spark a debate

Well it seems like nobody is really bothered that detrimental road conditions caused an accident. Now, scale that accident up x 100, and have a read of the M5 accident thread:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

So' it's OK to cause an accident if it will financially affect you not to do so, but if it's for entertainment, you should be prosecuted?

[C.A.R.]

We're you forced to live in rural countryside then?

[The Black Flash]

IATM said:

Pique said:

To be clear I wasn't bothered about the state of the car - just that in todays health & safety climate (see the M5 accident thread) you can get away with turning the road into a skating rink and it's ok because you need to harvest your crops or whatever. Either way - if your doing something that will endanger everyone using the road, then inform the local authorities first so that they can sort out proper signage and traffic control.

Id say that is a very fair point - once again its about consideration for others and no one seems to give a dam these days

Seriously, you are expecting farmers to ring up the council and have them arrange a highways team to come out every time they need to bring something out of a field? Yeah, that'd work.

Expect mud on country roads. Also expect loose sheep, pedestrians, deep puddles, fallen branches, and slow-moving machinery.

[Mr2Mike]

thinfourth2 said:

What the fk do you want

Hover tractors?

They to get out and lick the road clean

I hope you never ever eat a potato

All I want is for the farmers to leave the road in a reasonably safe state, as they are legally obliged to do. Quite often on my commute I find large slicks of slurry on the road that are literally like driving on ice.

[Pique]

So to be clear folks, it's Ok to cause an accident if it's only a B-Road. That's what the country is for innit? I will loose all of my crops if I don't ruin the road for everyone else.

Playing devil's advocate, I'm not sure how well any of these arguments would stand up in court had the biker been injured.

[tercelgold]

Can't they put some of those popup warning signs at each end, would only take 2 minutes and at least motorcyclists would pay attention to them even if nobody else did.

[Willy Nilly]

Pique said:

So to be clear folks, it's Ok to cause an accident if it's only a B-Road. That's what the country is for innit? I will loose all of my crops if I don't ruin the road for everyone else.

Playing devil's advocate, I'm not sure how well any of these arguments would stand up in court had the biker been injured.

You have already said that the road was being swept, what more do you want them to do? As for the signs, we had one of ours nicked last week, maybe theirs was too.

[Silent1]

Pique said:

So to be clear folks, it's Ok to cause an accident if it's only a B-Road. That's what the country is for innit? I will loose all of my crops if I don't ruin the road for everyone else.

Playing devil's advocate, I'm not sure how well any of these arguments would stand up in court had the biker been injured.

They're sweeping the road, apart from signs (which we always put up when there's mud) what else could they do?!

[Highway Star]

tercelgold said:

Can't they put some of those popup warning signs at each end, would only take 2 minutes and at least motorcyclists would pay attention to them even if nobody else did.

Farmers round here do exactly this when doing anything that is going to make a stretch of road especially treacherous.

[corvus]

Pique said:

I completed my journey in one piece but with literally the dirtiest car I have ever witnessed - the fields worth of mud left on the drive after yesterdays' wash was a sight to behold. So imagine my surprise when looking through the local rag there is a small article about a motorcycle accident - some unfortunate has put down his Kawasaki ZX on the mud on that sunday afternoon. No injuries apparently - but had the guy died god forbid the potato-headed wkers would have been staring down the barrel of a manslaughter charge.

If you hate it so much then go and live in a city, no one forced you to live in the countryside. Where do you think half your food comes from? You talk about farmers as if they are some separate entity wreaking havoc on the rest of the human race. So there's some mud on the road, so what? Do you know how the Kawasaki rider was riding? He may have been acting like a total pillock.

Sorry, no sympathy here, as you may have worked out.