Driveing a tractor on the road.

Brent Zappe · Dec 9, 2013

I live in the biggest place ever built with cement and buildings. I have to drive my tractor on the road every know and then. yes I do have to apply by the rules of California. They say all I need is a S.M.V sign. I start Laughing because most people in So Ca. have no clue what it stands for. My tractors Have to be seen this is what they have on them. S.M.V sign, flashers, tail and head lights. If they can not see that they have to be blind. My tractors have more metal on them than most new cars I have seen. I did forget yes i do have tractor insurance to just in case some edit hits me.

Ken Macfarlane · Dec 9, 2013

I do the same - exercising right to abide to the minimum standards can be fun but I'd rather be alive.

waltdavies · Dec 9, 2013

An idiot tried to pass a large tractor on 99W a couple years ago he almost made but when cut in miss the on comming traffic he took the left front wheel off the tractor destroying the little car. Some people just don't think.
Walt

VaTom · Dec 9, 2013

(quoted from post at 10:47:42 12/09/13) I live in the biggest place ever built with cement and buildings. I have to drive my tractor on the road every know and then. yes I do have to apply by the rules of California. They say all I need is a S.M.V sign. I start Laughing because most people in So Ca. have no clue what it stands for. My tractors Have to be seen this is what they have on them. S.M.V sign, flashers, tail and head lights. If they can not see that they have to be blind. My tractors have more metal on them than most new cars I have seen. I did forget yes i do have tractor insurance to just in case some edit hits me.

Bigger is better. I haven't been hit, or even a close call.

Mike (WA) · Dec 9, 2013

Have red and amber lights flashing all over the place in the back, but NO clear lights- to a following car, it looks like headlights of a car approaching in his lane, and the resultant panic situation will be on your dime, liability-wise.

fixerupper · Dec 9, 2013

I don't envy you guys who have to fight traffic to get to your fields. If you're driving a two wheel drive tractor and the average car hits you at speed you can be in a world of hurt even if you're totally right. Depending on how the car hits the tractor the tractor driver could be thrown around in the cab pretty hard or be ejected out a window, if the tractor has a cab. If a semi hits you, well, good luck. It's too bad the modern world is enclosing farmland like it is. I still live on a lonely gravel road and my farmland is all on gravel roads. I might have to wash the pickup more often and the road might not be the best in the spring but I almost always have the road to myself. Jim

VaTom · Dec 9, 2013

Not according to the Department here. No problem. Standard Cat equipment. Roading with them on would be dumb. Way too high for headlights.

But go ahead and worry if you prefer. Or put socks on yours.

DENNIS MIN · Dec 9, 2013

Brent,

I give every inch of road to oncoming agricultural equipment.

I also notice that there are those that want to pass me, I mean in between me and the oncoming combine. Fools they are.

I enjoy the leisurely gait following most equipment, especially when I have a radio playing.

I rarely pass any equipment going the same way, I figure they do not have signals, cannot see me, or even have a way to let me know they are making a left turn.

Just my way of thinking.

D.

Cas · Dec 9, 2013

I live on a hilly road in Western N.Y. Use an Older White 135 on the manure spreader. The tractor weighs about 16000 lbs without loaded spreader. A few years ago a guy coming over a hill lost control when he finally saw me. He knocked off my left axle and front tire, bounced off the back tire, spun around, car tipped on side, and slid into a ditch. I hardly felt it hit me. I shut the tractor off and sat there while the car driver crawled out of his car. He was bleeding and had trouble walking. Came up to tractor and asked me how bad I was hurt and apologived for the accident. Called for ambulance, it came with a sheriff. No ticket was issued to me. Tractor was driven home on three wheels.
He sued me later, but it was dismissed on first court appearance.

farmerwithmutt · Dec 9, 2013

and in wisc if you do over 25 with a smv sign your spedding ? county workers got caught once must been a freak accident

DeltaRed · Dec 9, 2013

Dennis,I do just as you do.I guess because I've been there....But most folks seem to think "A tractor! I MUST pass it before I turn into a 'pumpkin'!" lol

Larry NEIL · Dec 9, 2013

I live on a small lane, but the only way in is off a busy 2 lane hwy. Used to give cars any break I could 'till I learned better! Entrance to my road is at the crest of a hill, used to be3 2 lane with narrow shoulders. Pulled over to give 1/2 lane and it was like the start of the Indy 500...with cars coming up the hill in opposite direction. The cars passing me would NOT stop and if it wasn't for a sensible oncoming driver who stopped there would have been a bad crash!

IaGary · Dec 9, 2013

If it is modern equipment on the road they, like I, can see every move you make. The mirrors on this equipment these days are good.

If he has 4 way flashers on he also has turn signals. Not saying he will use them, but most do use the signals.

Gary

BAnNC · Dec 9, 2013

My feeling is that if I give a little pavement to they guy with the big tractor and 20' disc, he might remember seeing me do that when I'm off the road in the ice and help me.

Ted in NE-OH · Dec 9, 2013

When I drive my little AC B on the state highway, I drive down the middle of my lane. I don't want to encourage someone to take a chance and contribute to an accident.

BAnNC · Dec 9, 2013

Maybe, but wouldn't you like to hear what they tell the person they were talking to when they saw it. . . .:^D

donjr · Dec 9, 2013

My farm is on a two lane road, and I often have to make a left turn to get into my driveway. I now have SIX stickers on my window for cars that have hit me as I make the left into the driveway. Flashers, SMV sign, two roadside signs prior to the driveway warning drivers of left turning machinery, a double yellow line and me taking up 3/4's of the road haven't slowed them down much. I even turned my left turn signals on one afternoon as I approached the driveway, and an idiot ran into the side of the tractor. He said he thought I was signaling for him to pass me....

Matt_In · Dec 9, 2013

(quoted from post at 18:34:02 12/09/13) My farm is on a two lane road, and I often have to make a left turn to get into my driveway. I now have SIX stickers on my window for cars that have hit me as I make the left into the driveway. Flashers, SMV sign, two roadside signs prior to the driveway warning drivers of left turning machinery, a double yellow line and me taking up 3/4's of the road haven't slowed them down much. I even turned my left turn signals on one afternoon as I approached the driveway, and an idiot ran into the side of the tractor. He said he thought I was signaling for him to pass me....

I had an employee, work for a parks dept, put out his arm to turn left as he made the turn the girl behind him hit him. She thought he was signaling for her to pass him. Her father wanted us to fix her car...sheriff told him she was at blame for passing in a no passing zone. Turned into a huge argument that almost sent the father to jail (who wasn't even there at the time) all the car had was a scratch on the plastic bumper where she hit the drag blade, tractor had already cross the road and was in the driveway.

jeffcat · Dec 9, 2013

now I got a good laugh out of that last one!

Shetland Sheepdog · Dec 9, 2013

Good to see you on the forum Matt!
Merry Christmas to you Christi and the family!
D&L

Matt_In · Dec 9, 2013

(quoted from post at 19:58:04 12/09/13) Good to see you on the forum Matt!
Merry Christmas to you Christi and the family!
D&L

Thanks, Oh, I am around. Normally on the Oliver/Cockshutt forum. Don't have much to say anymore. Come April things will change my daughter comes into the world. Sure won't have time for tractors then. Have a good holiday to you and your family also.

Rollie NE PA · Dec 9, 2013

My neighbor got hit last week while driving his Farmall 400 on the road after dark. No SMV sign, no lights and no reflectors. The car ran into the back of the tractor. No injuries, but the car was pretty much junk.

Brian Jasper co. Ia · Dec 9, 2013

I do the same here. The several times I took a tractor on The Great Iowa Tractor Ride, the State Troopers encouraged us to drive in the traffic lane like a car on busy roads to discourage idiots from trying to squeeze in between northbound tractors and southbound traffic.
I also am a firm believer in flashing lights. There's no good reason to not have them.

2510Paul · Dec 9, 2013

My experiences:

1. Multiple times I was making a left turn and put my arm out to signal, they took it as a signal to pass and did.

2. I had two grain wagons behind me, some idiot passed me on the right on the gravel shoulder.

3. People always pass on double lines, blind curves, and obvious oncoming cars. Sometimes the oncoming cars slow down, some don't.

4. And then there is the guy that passes and almost takes off my front left tire. Sometimes someone is coming, and sometimes no one is coming.

I don't have new tractors but I have flashers on the tractor, SMV's on the wagons, and add those battery powered flashers on the back of the wagons.

I also have a very steep hill to decend on curves. With a full load I decend in 3rd gear to hold back (JD4320). I always wonder if someone will slam into the back of me.

Paul

Blackhole49 · Dec 10, 2013

I hate it when edits hit me. Easier to deal with idiots.

Driveing a tractor on the road.

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads