Tractor right of way

We have a lot of 10 speed bikers up here and when I am on the road with a truck or car, they ride in both lanes and do not make any attempt to get over or facilitate road safety.

So I used to try to get over when running tractors down the road at times putting myself too near a ditchbank or mailbox.

Since the cars and bikes drive more agressivly and of course, on the cell phone, I now keep the tractor & equipment in my legal lane. Insurance does not pay for punctured tires from getting over trying to be nice and People actually seem to slow down more often when I stay on the road.

Cell phones, texting, watching TV while they drive (yes they do it) and reading the paper while they drive is also more than mildly annoying.

It used to feel good to be nice to people on the road- now it feels more like playing chicken!

sounds like the bike riders in the St. Louis area

Out here where I live in southeastern Va., the two lane country roads get real narrow with a big piece of farm equipment!! The guys that farm the place I live on will actually go to the next intersection and block traffic from coming through and have a truck with amber warning lights on it following the equipment!! They've got a six row Case cotton picker that takes up the whole road, not to mention the grain combine with a six row head! Some of the "city slicker" that have moved out here get a rude awakening at times and have to turn around/back up to get out of the way! My wife, when we first got married, didn't take long to learn the rules of the road out here and now she laughs at the other folks.

There aren't a lot of bicyclists where I am in northern NY but I am one. I've put almost 700 miles on my bike this year so far. I ride a 1976 Schwinn LeTour and I wear ordinary clothes, so if you saw me off my bike you wouldn't know I was biking. I always am amused when I pass the guys in special bike suits with special shoes and lightweight bikes who are not going all that fast. I do ride on the right hand edge of the road, or on the right edge of my lane if I'm in a left turn lane or something, and that works okay. I feel safer there than in the middle, and it's easier for cars to pass. I drive the tractor on the right edge of the pavement but usually I don't leave the pavement unless I am very wide or if I am letting someone pass who has slowed down behind me. It can be alarming even here at times, so I am sure it all must be worse in places where there is more traffic.
Zach

For some reason the road I live is a main traveled road for bike rallys. Just about every Saturday there may as many as 50 in a pack taking up the complete lane. The blow right through stop signs, then wonder why they get run over every now and then. When I am hauling my crawler and my disc on my old 54 chevy flat bed, I go kind of slow up hills, I usually pull over, and let the cars go by. I would think they would acknowlecge my pulling over by a simple wave, but no they just speed past, wondering why I am even on the road. I am like you I take a chance of picking up a nail, or some other tire damage. Stan

when i last worked as farm hand we had a bike club that would ride on back paved roads side by side wouldn't move over or do any thing to be considerate of cars,trucks or tractors just hog the whole road and cause lots of problems.
one day as boss and i were pulling a big load of hay we came up behind a bunch of them . only this time we were able to pass them we got to bottom of a long hill and boss went to a lower gear so those people on their bikes had work hard to get up as they didn't have any momentum to get up hill
it's surprising how slow an oliver 770 can go

Up until the county paved my road a few years back, it was basically deserted except for local farmers and area families. Now it has turned into a local short cut used to bypass the nearby town. In the evenings it also turns into the local dragstrip and these guys won't slow down for anything,not even tractors. Earlier this spring one guy went over a hill into the back of a planter. The planter won. Wish I could say I felt bad but I don't. Could have been my son or daughter on their bikes.

Like a woman I heard on the radio some years back stated when asked about the bike situation around here, 'If I'm riding in my car, with my children, and I go around a curve at the legal limit to and find a bike or group of bikes in my lane such that I can't slow down before I hit them, a car coming at me from the other direction, and a deep ditch on my side.....who do you think I'm going to take out?'
Got a customer in Chapel Hill, NC which is a BAD area for bicyclists that hit one some years back with the corner of the blade on the dozer he was hauling. In his situation he had just crossed the top of a hill and headed down the other side when he saw the guy on the bike. Knowing there was no way he could slow down enough before he got to the guy he sounded the air horn to warn the guy that he was being overtaken. Like an idiot he said the guy actually moved further into the road instead of off onto the shoulder. So he moved over trying to miss the guy and just as he thought he was past a car came around the curve at the bottom of the hill so there was really nothing to do but get it all back in the right lane and pray. He said as he moved back over he thought he had squeeked by the idiot on the bike until he looked into the mirror and saw the guy tumbling off of his bike on the road....lucky he didn't go under the trailer tires..... The bikers lawyers tried pulling crap out of their hats to convict my customer of something related to motor vehicles but when countered that they wanted to see the registration, tag, insurance, etc for the bike so they could file charges against that guy for knowingly creating a slow moving hazard his lawyers suddenly decided it wasn't worth pursuing. Hopefully the idiot on the bike learned his lesson better than the one that pulled out in front of me in my 32,000 lb plus service truck at the bottom of a hill. I just missed him........

All that said in most cases I'ver always heard that if you run off of the road to 'avoid' an accident then any damages done automatically become your responsibility whereas if you stay on the road and in your legal lane and go ahead and let the idiot cause the accient then it's their fault. Even then I often wonder since bikes have no insurance who is responsible for any expenses created in an accident caused by the rider doing something stupid since they aren't required to have insurance like other vehicles do but expect the same rights and rights of way as those of us paying for them.......

In Pennsylvania, bikes have the same right to the full lane as a motor vehicle. I think horses do too. However, do to limited sight lines, riding like that is an accident waiting to happen.

My neighbor who is like 85 now is one super guy, but he cant stand those guys and girls on bicycles who come up the road here every Saturday morning, and more times than not on Sunday. He use to take his truck and blow the air horn when they would come by, but they have gotten use to that now, so his next move was a cannon he bought, one of those homebuilt hobby kind. They stopped coming for about an month, but have resumed their trek. I dont mind them myself, but I think that the state should make them pay a tax since they are so danged many of them now. Everyone one around here thhinks they are Lance Armstrong just because George Hincappy is from my area.

I have heard several bike riders say diesel smoke is something they hate.. My old Dodge puffs a lot of smoke when I pass a pack of bikes in 3rd gear

I just added a rops to my tractor for the same reason.. rud inatentive drivers.

I occupy my legal lane and run all my lamps flashers and have my plaques and dot reflect tape...

soundguy

I cant stand the bike riders that come down my road. they think there gods gift to the world when you try to be nice and wave. they look at you like you are some back woods hic. not even worth there time. you want to ride your bike do it in your own neighborhood not mine. bike riders are just a big road hazzard.

You know they can't be right with their spandex outfits and a bicycle seat about the size of a door knob stuck up their hind end. But if you hit one they will own everything you got. If they had a job where they had to work they would not need to ride to get their exercise. DH

Sounds like bike riders are the same everywhere. I think bikes should be banned from streets that have a speed limit higher than 25 MPH.

You can say that again! A year ago I had to make a mad dash about 30 miles to get a belt for the baler and got caught up in a bicycle tour. They were strung out the whole way! By the time I'd got 3/4ths of the way,it's probably a REAL good thing that I met a state cop on the road,because I was seeing red and somebody was about to get wiped out!

Hmmmmm. Another reason to be grateful for our steeply hilly and really crapping roads. We don't get bicyclists around here. I have heard some horror stories though. I guess they figure no one lives in the country or has anywhere important to go on a Saturday morning so they might as well use the road. They wouldn't be able to do that in their city without getting a ticket.

Christopher

roughly 15 years back they were having one of those bicycle race type deals thousands of cyclists were on a 2 or 300 mi race they passed thru lancaster county in Pa. it tied up traffic for the whole day on a major route thru quarryville it angered a lot of people,and rightfully so. somebody got the urge to plafully retaliate, they brought lots and lots of thumb tacks and strategicaly placed them on the road. it must have been extremely entertaining watching people fixing flat tires rather than racing. i do not condone this action but a scene like that would make an awfully funny moment in a movie or such al

Nice thing about having livestock is the need to haul manure once in a while...........but you need to be careful that the pto doesn"t start up by itself at the wrong time.

come close to a fight with a couple of those guys ,about 10 yrs ago ,, after being waved at with the middle finger , I slammed the BRAKES on the 800 Case and they DAmnear ran into the back of the nh 489haybine,,I stood up SHOOK MY FIST and hollered" BringIT ON YOU BAsturds " They sheepishly declined and waved Me On apologeticly ,,, that was probably a good thing Because I was plumb Wore out and pizt from a not so perfect long hot day,,,,

I don't complain about the bikes, they have the same rights as the farm equipment on the road. I am real suprised to read farmers complaining about bikes on the road and some of you sound pretty rude about it. This type of thought is how some other rude people think about farmers on the road. I farm about 500 acres scattered all over the country side and I have to drive my equipment everywhere. Too dangerous to pull over, I stay right in my legal lane just like the bikers should. A guy almost hit me yesterday head on passing a bike, he was illegal passing, sharing the lane with the bike. Lets' be more educated and considerate, not more stupid like many of you sound.

I am not sure which of the people here sounded stupid to you but most of them had real life stories to back up opinions.

Bikes need to have insurance just like we do for liability and cars do too.

My original statement about staying in my lane to the center of the road is for my safety and the safety of others.

Was not your question that sounded stupid, just a few others opionions on how to treat other vehicles sharing the road. Your question about being in the lane is correct. If you ride on the shoulder and cause an issue then instead of being a legal vehicle in the lane you may instead be considered a traffic obstruction and be cited or liable. Staying in the lane makes people slow down to pass also, riding on the shoulder entices some people to pass you at a pretty good speed which is more dangerous. Putting lots of lights on equipment makes a big difference, people take you more serioius, I have beacons, turn signals, marker lights also on all my tractors and trucks.

Mi. has the legal liimit at 16 feet wide for ag equipment. I am not sure how most roads fall under that since they are not that wide in total but as long as you have SMV & lights if applicable, you are golden.

The people on cells, blackberries (typing) & reading newspapers are worse even than bikes...

Without a doubt, the worst drivers I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with are young women/girls. (This from a father of two daughters) They are ALWAYS in a hurry, have NO consideration, and expect the entire world to just stop and let them have their way. I had one pull out in front of me yesterday when I had a loaded trailer behind the pick-up. She gave me all of 4 car lengths when I was going about 40 mph. I still don't know how I missed hitting her. 3 days ago, I had another one, cell phone to her ear, driving way over the speed limit, to pass me on a double yellow, cut back in so close she almost ran over the front wheel on the tractor, THEN jam on her brakes to make a turn. She turned on the turn signal AFTER she started turning. It would have taken all of 10 seconds of her valuable time just to stay behind me and turn after I was clear of the intersection.

Grant you people "pedal bikers" have the right of way !

If there is several tons of steel rolling up behind me i get out of the way. I do not go out of my way to pull in front of a moving vehicle .


You can't fix "stupid" look at our current government.

Stay in your lane and come up behind them , they will get the hint to get the hell out of the way .

If they don't "I" would tell them what i thought. Some people just need to be told the harsh reality of the way things really are .

We don't live in a perfect world..

While legally they have the same rights as a car truck or semi, Mass always wins, and even if your dead right while on a bike, your still dead. Bikers get out of my way when I have 20 plus tons of tractor, chopper and wagon going down the road at 25 mph. I say screw them, if they want to ride then they should get on the trail.

I did not want to say that here but it does seem that the worst are young girls driving SUV's and talking on the phone.

I do not know what they can be in such a hurry for- Late to work??

Hmm.. I have a piece of paper copied from the state of Michigan.. Dawn to dusk, it says we're allowed 22 feet of the roadway, after dark remain in your lane.. We carry it in our work tractors due to some issues we have run into MANY times in Wayne County, MI (who always claimed terra-gators needed plates, and a over-width permit)

We have a pair of 9430 JD 4 wheel drives, and pull 2 6500 gallon tanks behind each, with a applicator on the back tank.

I run with the right hand duals on the white line and let it roll.. As far as Michigan law appears, we have all safety requirements, so we're legal to run down the road.. Don't like my speed? You can figure out how to pass, or hang in back there till I deem it safe to pull over and let you pass.

Some counties are way worse than others about cyclists.. but most of them think they own the road.. and every time I pass one I want to yell "DIDN'T YOUR PARENTS TEACH YOU TO KEEP YOUR TOYS IN THE BACKYARD??"
It is kinda sad I feel this way, as it wasn't all that long ago since I'd ride my bike 8 miles to work, or 4 miles to town, or 2 miles to the farm.. But once I got my drivers license that pretty well sidelined the bike. I do occasionally ride the street still.. If we move equipment a short distance at work or on the farm, I'll take the bicycle and ride back to the truck or whatever (less down time as opposed to walking), But on a bicycle, I know I'm the smallest thing on the road (unless there's a UNICYCLE in view), so I get out of the way of traffic, not shoot to the center line if I hear a car/truck/tractor coming.

Bicyclists don't like such big tailgaters either it seems.. I guess it makes em nervous.. I just shift down so I'm close to the same speed, and follow quite close till they let me by.. Not the safest thing I'm sure, but neither is riding your bike half the places they ride.. They don't take the straight, level roads.. they take the hilly winding ones that you can't see em till you're about to run em over.. And for the person gonna argue that's for the better exercise: All the exercise in the world don't help if you are dead.

Ok, I'll stop ranting now, as my blood pressure is probably high enough now

Brad

Good one Brad , i live in Macomb county and i
know how stupid Wayne county is.

For those that don't know but follow the news
part of Wayne county is the city of Detroit or as
i call it Detolit.



Seeing as spandex seems to be in powering maybe
we should all ware it !!!! I love those little
bike outfits...

I like your input. I too am a little supprised at the farmers complaining about bikers. Many times i have been behind slow moving farm equipment for miles at a time. But everyone, even bikers have right of way in the road. Even horse drawn buggies have the same right of way.

I started carrying the Michigan Farm Traffic guide in my tractors after having some issues with a local county deputy who thinks I don't have a right. I would like to see the link about the 22 foot wide rule, I can't see that in the farm traffic guide.

I'll ask my boss where he got it tomorrow. The paper don't have a link on it, as if it were printed off the computer, but I know he got it somewhere probably 5 or 6 years ago through the state somewhere.. That was the year we got multiple fines in a Terra-Gator (as stated previously, in Wayne Co. MI)

I also know my bosses boss went to court and fought the tickets and somehow they threw out all of the fines, except for having a proof of insurance (Who knew I guess), But now the tractors have a proof of insurance.. It's kinda vague, all it says is all vehicles owned/leased by/to the company operated on public roadways.. Just a cover our butt kinda thing I guess.

Brad

Year and years ago I drove the water truck for the sprayer. The opening on top of the tank had a piece of carpet coverting it.

When the bikers wouldn't get out of the way I'd slam on the brakes and 50 degree water would come out the top and wet them all down.

Probably get in trouble today even though it is just water but made me feel good and the bikers wet and cold.