Wanted – a policy that puts brakes on tractors

I RECENTLY moved to Ireland from Australia. One aspect of living here that I find rather bizarre is the number of tractors, often pulling heavily loaded trailers, allowed to travel on public roads.

These tractors pose an obvious traffic hazard. On a number of occasions, I have seen frustrated drivers take foolish risks in an effort to pass these slow-moving tractors. In one case, a possible fatality was avoided by mere seconds.

Queues in excess of five vehicles behind these tractors is not uncommon, with the notion of pulling over to allow other vehicles to pass seeming to evade their drivers.

Furthermore, these large tractors and their loads are frequently exceeding the width of the laneway upon which they travel, resulting in dangerous obstruction to on-coming traffic.

To make things even worse, it is not rare to observe their drivers engaged in texting or using one hand to take/make a phone call.

There might be an attempt at justifying such travel of these oversized vehicles if Ireland’s important agricultural industry relied upon their use on public roads.

However, clearly this is not the case. All loads I have seen being carried or pulled could have been effectively done so by conventional road vehicles such as tabletop trucks.

Is the risk to loss of life or injury – in addition to the inconvenience and loss of time to road users – not worthy of a

policy rethink by those responsible for Irish road safety and management?

Perhaps subsidies for purchasing conventional load-bearing vehicles

might offset the downsides of restricting the use of tractors on public roads? Paul Vallely

Co Meath