Tractor drivers in firing line

They say you should never criticise a farmer on a full belly.

This maxim would have been well understood by our grandparents’ generation but sadly seems to be less acknowledged today. With less people involved directly in agriculture, levels of rural disconnect have never been greater.

One example was highlighted when Tayside Police posted on their Facebook page asking for road users to be aware that farmers were in the middle of harvest and therefore the roads would be busier than normal with agricultural vehicles. They asked motorists to be courteous and considerate and also to be vigilant and to drive carefully when approaching tractors or combines. All very sensible you would think.

What you might not have expected was the torrent of angry comments from the motoring public. These ranged from the downright ignorant “tractors should be restricted to fields and banned from roads” to “some farmers take great delight in holding up traffic deliberately”.

Clearly there is a need for the agricultural industry to invest some time in public relations, as to some of the general public it is not obvious that these vehicular movements are necessary to get food from field to plate.

Having spent the last few weeks hauling straw on public roads, I am well aware of the frustration slow-moving vehicles cause to other road users. Like every other tractor driver I frequently witness other motorists carrying out dangerous manoeuvres – usually overtaking in inappropriate places.

Pulling in at every layby to let accumulated traffic pass safely simply isn’t possible. Firstly this assumes that there are sufficient laybys, which there aren’t. It also (wrongly) assumes that those laybys which do exist provide sufficient space for long agricultural vehicles and aren’t full of potholes. Lastly it assumes that an agricultural vehicle can accelerate quickly enough out of said layby before a line of traffic accumulates again.

Perhaps on the basis of the above, motorists should be more vocal in voicing complaints towards local roads departments rather than farmers.

As tractor drivers we are generally as courteous as possible, but we all have jobs to do, and while many other drivers rush to get home for their tea, we are working all hours making sure that their tea reaches them.