Road Use

Bicycles are some problem in this area. Another though in our area are those stinky horse riders. Horses don't seem to be licensed and run mostly on hay & corn. They dress ok except for those big ol hats. Dogs don;t seem to like them much more than the bicycles. When real farmers come along with 30 ft wide combines useing both sides of the road, burning off road diesel I explain to myself we should just show them some patience and understanding.

Never heard of a combine burning road diesel but I am sure you are being sarcastic. One guy justified the use of tractor on the road without paying fuel road taxes because he owned property on the road.

Unless the law has been changed you pay taxes to middle of the road. We have some farmers around here that farm almost to the road.

most horses dont eat corn, they eat oats and hay, cows and hogs eat corn, since most roads run thru the farmers property, they drive on them when traveling from field to field, dont worry about the road tax not being on the diesel in the farmers combine, his other taxes would buy your wife a new car, every year

somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. However, it is sunny and 40"s here Yahoo!

And then 4 wheelers

Oh come on now! A combine isn't a daily driver!

Actually, its 60 deg here this am. I feel good. Being a little tongue in cheek with my comments. Getting ready to ride bicycle in the road. I also ride horses in the road. Even ride a JD tractor in the road when necessary. Nothing wrong with any of these. Have a great day everyone. Lets all learn a little patience.

I would like to think that the horses, tractors,combines, and even the bicyclest pay plenty of road use taxes in other ways. I don't own a horse or a combine but I do drive tractors down the road, walk down the road, and yes I do even bike down the road. I pay lic. fees on my two motorcycles,two cars. truck, and eleven different trailers I own and use on the roadways. Not to mention the taxes on pay on my gasoline. Not to mention the rediculous property taxes I pay to maintain 700ft of paved road frontage. Myself, I have no problem using the road with my unlicensed things although I do abide by the laws of the road when I do.

Oughta drive a tractor on the roads here.......... If you don't have a big 100+HP machine, expect people to try and punk you. Try to stay to the right in the lane and someone will pass you with a semi coming the other direction. I started driving a couple inches from the centerline and had folks pass me on the right, I now drive in the center of the lane and keep something handy to write down plate numbers. If there is a bicycle trail here, a bicycle on the road can get a ticket. If someone is bicycling without the funny clothes and gets in an accident because of visibility ou loose clothing getting caught, or a head injury without a helmet, chances are hi that the insurance won't pay.

Dave

A little sarcasm is a dangerous thing on here.

...and what about those dang box turtles on our public roads! Don't get me started!

Try Amsterdam millions of bikes.

In the area I live in here in NW Iowa a few farmers who don't want to mess with the rules and regulations of owning a truck use big wagons instead. The bigger wagons can hold 650 bushels apiece. That translates to 35,000 to 39,000 pounds of grain alone without adding the weight of the wagon. Most of them pull two wagons hooked together, bumping the total weight of wagons and tractor to 110,000 pounds or more. I've seen 113,000. These guys SHOULD PAY HEAVY ROAD USE TAXES! Here in Iowa a tandem axle semi can't be over 80,000. The wagons are over weight on the axles and have to follow the same weight laws as trucks, but they are rarely weighed by the DOT. One local farmer who pulls two of these big wagons regularly actually bragged to me that 'he can haul more than a truck'. And he was kind of sticking his chest out when he said it. In my area, every fall I hear of one or two of these wagons breaking an axle and dumping over in the ditch, or a hitch pin breaking and one or both wagons ending up in the ditch. They are not safe! I never hear of a truck breaking an axle and I can't remember of a semi losing the trailer though I'm sure it happens. Jim

That is a good point. Here tractors do get away with alot, no plates, inspections, or auto insurance. I appreciate that and always try to be courteous with other drivers and would say in my area almost all the drivers are courteous, it is only a few out of a hundred that are jerks.

There used to be a local noon hour radio program called "Back Talk". I worked with an ornery cuss who would call in with his best red neck voice and gripe to high heaven about all this unlicensed farm machinery running up and down the highway. Then he'd sit back and gleefully listen to all of the irate farm wives respond. What a stinker! Another time was when the UMWA was out on strike. He made some disparaging comment about the miners. They'da killed him if they coulda found him, and rightfully so. . .

No implications made here, you understand. . .

8~)

Paul

Dave, 2 Questions. 1.st Didi you get the tractor inspected as O.K?
2nd. Did you read my E.Mail? Havn't. heard. Regards LOU.

Asking a driver to show patience and understanding is one thing, asking those on the horses or bikes to show a little common sense is another. I can't ever recall having anyone riding a horse cause any type of traffic problems but the bikes are a different story. With thousands of miles of non-main roads to ride on these idiots choose heavily travelled roads that, around here anyway, are often filled with blind curves. Now I'll ask you when you go around a curve at the speed limit of say 45 MPH and run up on a bike in the middle of your lane running closer to 10 MPH, it makes no difference who pays a road use tax or anything else.....The individual on the bike is going to lose the battle.

I've got a buddy that was legally hauling a D8 (oversized load) some years back. Just as he got over the crest of a hill abd started the long downhill run he noticed a bike riding on the edge of the road. Knowing there was no way he could stop before overtaking the bike he blew his horn to give the biker notice to move out of the road. Instead the idiot moved further into the road. As a result my buddy had to move into the other lane in an attempt to avoid hitting the idiot. As he was going past the bike he became aware of a car coming around the curve at the bottom of the hill. Now he had a choice, hit the idiot on the bike or head on the people in the car. He chose to move back into his own lane. As a result the biker was thrown off balance and hit the edge of the road tumbling. The bikers lawyer tried every trick under the sun to get my buddy charged with something with no success as the biker paid no road use tax for the vehicle, had no slow moving vehicle placard attached, was creating a road hazard by moving so far under the posted limit, and had intentionally moved further into the lane when being overtaken creating turning an already hazardous situation into one that was even more hazardous.


Some years back I had a bike pull out in front of me while headed downhill in a 30,000 lb plus truck....Fortunately I was able to swerve and avoid him. Had I not had that opportunity though it may not have been my fault for doing so, feeling the thump as the body went under the tires and killing the idiot would have been on my conscience the rest of my life.....


Like you say, patience is great, but it's very, very hard to come by when the biker/rider/whatever showes absolutely no common sense when riding around in traffic with vehicles that will kill them. I was taught as a child not to play in traffic....with thousands of miles of housing developments, etc to ride their bikes in, what exactly are these idiots thinking when they get out there playing?????

Well said and very true NCWayne.

good points everyone, right there with you. boulder, colo. some bike riders think there should be no cars on the road... right, they have license plates saying "respect life" on their cars. go figure, and yet want no cars on road. they think they are exempt, talk about 15 miles of stupidity, surrounded by reality. [wounder how they ride bikes in snow].lol

And Dope.