Stupid Drivers!!

[Bwgad96]

Today I has a buddy of mine moving his tractor on the road get t-boned.He was making a left hand turn, when a dodge noen traveling approx. 40-50mph according to the police cross the yellow lines to pass him and hit him. Car disinigrated and front end loader on tractor is bent to nothing.Is it just me or do people not realize that they dont own the road!! 3 cracked ribs over trying to pass a tractor!! rant over

 

[groundcover]

Sorry to hear that ! Were his trailer lights working ? How was the knuckelhead that hit him ?

 

[Bwgad96]

He was moving it to his rental property a few hundred yards down. He was riding it. I just dont understand how you miss a 4430 John Deere with the triangle.Of course the jackwagon was fine, but my buddy is hurtin!

 

[groundcover]

Boy that stinks ! Hope he recovers quickly and he gets the Deere back in service .

 

[MIKE R]

People have no respect for others using the road. They think they own it. I like to keep an eye on traffic when roading, anticipating what other idiots might do. Try to be as visible as possible. Most people in my area are good with equiptment on the road as most have been around it there entire life. Sorry to hear about you friend.

 

[fgross335_2210]

A friend of my son did the same thing when he first got his license. He had gotten a nice looking Grand Am and was clearly thinking more about how cool his car was than the tractor and wagon ahead of him. Didn't slow down and started to pass and the tractor/wagon started to turn left into a farm. He swerved left missed the tractor and t-boned a large tree. Car was totalled, all the airbags deployed and he was fortunate to walk away with just severe bruising all over his chest and torso.

The only good thing was that he got a second chance. That was 3 years ago and he has been accident-free since then.

I told him then....NEVER just try to pass ANYTHING moving that slow....match the speed first, assess the situation, determine IF it's safe to pass, then when you can see it's safe - do it. And NEVER pass ANYTHING going that slow when there are driveways appraoching on the left.

It's just common sense, but I supppose not many people have that nowadays.

I grew up on a farm and we were right on a state highway with a 55MPH speedlimit. Our second property was about 1 mile down the road but on the opposite side so when going from one to the other you always had to make a left hand turn off of the state highway. After a few close calls we got into the habit of moving left of center about 500 feet before the intersection, that tended to encourage people to drop back in behind us and not try to pass. I was always the person running the grain wagons back and forth and I always worried about someone attepmting a pass just as I turned left into our farm. Fortunately for me it never happened.....

 

[DT86]

....match the speed first, assess the situation, determine IF it's safe to pass, then when you can see it's safe - do it. And NEVER pass ANYTHING going that slow when there are driveways appraoching on the left.

I couldn't tell you how many times I've looked back and seen no cars behind me, look forward again for a second and a soccer mom in her suv talking on the phone while chugging Starbuck's will fly right past doing 50 or 60 and never letting off the gas.

After a few close calls we got into the habit of moving left of center about 500 feet before the intersection, that tended to encourage people to drop back in behind us and not try to pass.

We do the same thing. :thumbsup: I try to have the left side tires completely on the wrong side of the double yellow well before turning. I've still had idiots pass me half way through my turning maneuver.

 

[creekbend]

Sincerely sorry about your Friend's accident.

 

[JasG]

Been running farm machinery over the road since late 1980's for different farmers over the year. I have had many close calls, but never an accident. Just wonder what people are thinking? I've even had people pass my truck when it was clear I was making a left hand turn, slowing down with my blinker on.

A couple of weeks ago driving home I passed a car on a 4 lane divided road. In my rear view mirror I could see a truck a ways back inthe passing lane flying up behind me. I get back in my lane with time for him so he never had to slow down.

Whats this idoit do? Cuts in front of me and slams on his brakes to turn right into a parking lot. It might have saved him 1 second verses slowing down earlier and pulling in behind the car I just passed. I hit my brakes as soon as he cut in front of me, had I waited for his brake lights I think I would have hit him.

Sorry about your friend and his machine.

 

[CharlieS]

I hate to see it happen to anyone but in most if not all states, drivers/operators of vehicles without turn signals are required to give hand signals. left arm straight out is a left turn, arm out and up for right turn, out and down for stop. Whie no one knows if it would have helped at all or not no one will ever know. Also did your friend access the situation before making the turn? Unless he was pulling a large object he couldnt see around he should have easily seen the auto coming and been able to wait to make the turn. If he was pulling something he couldnt see around then he should have had someone following him with 4 way flashers flashing and able to toot the horn at him (an agreed upon pre arranged signal) to prevent such an accident.
It sounds like both parties were partially to blame.

 

[MoKelly]

Was the driver of the car texting on the phone? My guess is the driver just wasn't paying attention. It happens all too often.

MoKelly

 

[Pitch1]

To begin with,I grew up on a farm,my family farms,I work in a farm related industry.
Like it or not this is no longer 1950,life is a much faster pace than it was and most people have no inkling of what a farm is.
Like it or not convenient or not the person(farmer) obstructing free flow of traffic has a duty to be as visible as possible and as cautious as possible.
I can't tell you how many times the BTO's around here are tooo lazy to spend the twenty minutes to drop the header before they decide to drive 5 miles down the road,or how many time I have come up behind someone hauling a baler and a couple of hayracks with only a faded SMV sign on the back
Sorry but even though there are millions of careless cluelss drivers out there many of the farmers are their equal.

 

[Ken]

It is the dodge neons causing the problems.
For myself driving steady and brake lights all light up for several cars ahead so startted to slow also and a neon popped into the open space I was trying to keep . took the cars plastic and tin to the rear window mashed it all in made cadiliac fins of the rear fenders. Driver said saw opening and changed lanes. his fault my dodge 1 ton just a front tire.
ken

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I road equipment regularly, anything from 5' wide vineyard tractors to my larger tractors with 14' wide equipment. I have no choice but to run the busy State Route 20 to get from the base farm to some of my other fields 3-4 miles away. I have come close to being hit numerous times as people just do not know how to drive around farm equipment on the road. I get cars that sit behind me going 20 mph because their scared to pass which only makes it harder for others to pass behind them (safely). I regularly have cars pass me when they shouldn't and force oncoming cars off to the shoulder. I also have cars that pass me while I am parked in the road trying to turn left. I have my left turn signal on and am just sitting there because the cars never slow down and just keep whipping around me at 60mph. I have been giving the one finger salute numerous times just because I am out on the road. It is not a great experience but it is part of farming. It is also why I try to manage things so I don't need to run back and forth on the roads too much. When I get to the field I leave the tractor and either get a ride back or if I know I am going to be leaving the tractor I haul my bike with me so I can just ride it home and bring the truck back the next day.

It doesn't matter if you have the SMV and all the proper lighting on the tractor. The majority of the other drivers just don't want to slow down when they approach slow moving equipment or any type of equipment on the road. New York State had to actually pass a law to make cars slow down if there are flashing lights from emergency vehicles or construction vehicles on the side of the road. You now need to slow down and move over so as to not risk hitting anyone along the side of the road. It is a common sense thing but our state had to make it a law because people just don't care. For a tractor all the SMV and proper lighting does is protect you from being faulted if you are in an accident. Well, it will help prevent you from being faulted.

 

[RBA50]

I moved out of NY state about a year and a half ago. The year before I did, I drove across the country twice. Most states already had the "Slow down and/or move over" law in place. NY is a little slow on some things, except raising taxes. I think it was the charter bus that hit the concrete truck and pushed it into the back of a dump truck, killing the three workers between them that got that law passed finally. That happened on I81, just north of Binghamton.

 

[Deere Dude]

I told him then....NEVER just try to pass ANYTHING moving that slow....match the speed first, assess the situation, determine IF it's safe to pass, then when you can see it's safe - do it. And NEVER pass ANYTHING going that slow when there are driveways appraoching on the left.

You are right on. Driveways and tractors take a lot more consideration than people realize. Plus, tractor drivers or car drivers can be distracted by cell phones and nonchalantly pull out or turn while being oblivious to anyone else around, which is a recipe for disaster.

Because of what happened to me, one other thought. If passing someone on a two lane road make sure there isn't an intersection coming up with a car on the right sitting at a stop sign. You may be hidden from his view as you pass and he might pull out in front of the car you are trying to pass and turn right toward you. Wait until the intersections are clear and the car or tractor in front cannot do anything except go straight and nobody can pull out on you.

 

[Gator6x4]

The farmer has a right to move his equipment from one work location to another. This I accept and enjoy looking at the different equipment when I pull up behind one of them. What makes it hazardous is the people who will only pass another vehicle if they are on a four lane highway, or who cannot actually see something as large as a tractor, yet are driving a motor vehicle.

 

[MIKE R]

I had a lady in a little sports car following me for over a mile when I was hauling a wagon of round bales. I passed her at a intersection and thought she went straight through. I didn't even know she was behind me until I looked in the mirror and here she comes up beside the wagon in the oncoming traffic lane with a pick up coming towards her. I pulled to the shoulder of the road as did the oncoming car and she sailed right on through like it didn't even happen. Although most around here are fine with equipment on the road there is always one or two that aren't. Best we can do is have all our safety devices working and try to anticipate what others will do. I too pull into the oncoming lane 500ft before the intersection I plan on turning at when turning left.