I was headed out to chisel plow yesterday morning and got by a damn car. I left the farm headed north, flashers on, SMV sign visible, went a 1/4 mile to my turn and as got hit making a left turn by a kid in an 80s camaro thinking he's Burt Reynolds. It is a passing lane there, but I had the right of way. I used my blinker when making the turn, saw him approaching in my mirror, still in the right lane so I crept over to take the road and make it known that I was turning. He tried going through the shoulder on the far left of the road as I was mid turn. Bam. Hits the left rear of my plow. No seat belts for him or passenger. I call 911, they dispatch state trooper and first responder. Driver was ok, they were concerned that his passenger might have had a concussion. They were checking her out when the trooper said I could head on my way. Trooper told me the kid was getting multiple tickets. No damage to my rig. Messed up his bumper, grill, fender and hood. Eye witness following him saw the whole thing and stayed to give a statement. So please, watch out. It is that time of year again. How he thought he was going around me still baffles me.
Glad there was no damage to you or the equipment. Field work will be starting shortly here, at the same time people turn into bigger idiots than normal when driving. Ed
Glad your ok.. coulda been worse..
Glad your ok. I read an article in a farm paper that said following a tractor for 2 km. Only slows someone down about the same as stopping at two red lights in town. Doesn't seem like much to risk your life and someone else's for. A good friend of mine got put in the hospital by an A-hole Driving drunk he was in a ford 9000 and it hit so hard it tore the cab off. ( it's been a quite a while I think it was a 9000) the crash killed the drunk. He was a person of some fame so the media was wringing there hands about poor so and so, the SOB. if the crash didn't kill him he should of been hanged
Wife an I always try to give farm equipment all the room we can. We both understand even with all the best mirrors there are too many blind spots. And I have driven follow car several times moving things like large front end loaders, scrappers, haul trucks and cranes, can not believe how little concern some people have for something that big. They will tailgate a 10 yard loader like it was a Mini-Cooper and then pass and cut in like that machine could stop on a dime. I would love it if someone hauling one of those big liquid tankers would just "accidently" bump the PTO lever when someone is doing that ****!
I always worry about this when I'm moving equipment, no crumple zones on farm equipment so it's really easy for someone to die if they hit you in the wrong place.
Yeah, I'm glad it wasn't worse than it was. Still pisses me off. Glad his passenger is alright. If he had not hit the brakes as hard as he did it would have been her life. 4,500 pound car doesn't beat the 35,000 pound tractor and plow. Best line I heard during the trooper's interview of the driver "but it was a passing lane officer"
First off, I'm not a person thats in a hurry.....oncoming farm equipment, I pull into a driveway, it's the easiest way to give the operator a clear right of way. If I come up behind, I hang back and hit the flashers. They get a place to move over, they'll wave you by. My friend that works our property had an interesting one, met a car in the middle of a freeway overpass. She stopped, he stopped. She got out screaming that he needed to back up. LMAO.....he told her, wasn't happening. Steiger, disk & packer, "I've got all day, go ahead call the sheriff", she finally backed up and let him through. Ed
Had plenty of close calls on our farm over the years, glad nobody got hurt. BTW - Is that a row crop special? I thought they were they only 9250's with outboard planetary axles but I dont see the decal. Had one when I worked for CaseIH. Good tractor either way. ISZ
It doesn't say it anywhere if it is a row crop special. I don't really know much about Case or International tractors. We pretty much bleed green since our local Deere dealer is 5 miles from our farm and we get top notch service from doing business with them for 40 years now. We bought this Case because we needed some cheap horsepower and wanted the convenience of a powershift transmission. It was for sale locally from a guy downsizing and price was right because it had sat for a couple years prior to our purchase of it. It had bad algae issues when we got it, and some broken pushrods, but we got it sorted out over the winter about 8 years ago and it's been pretty solid ever since. Might put 200 hours a year on it. Only downside is that it is light for a 300 hp tractor. It could use some ballast to stop the powerhop, but we haven't taken the time to deal with.
The row crop special has a steerable front axle in adition to normal articulation. Allows minor adjustments while row crop cultivating, planting, etc. without the tail wag and tighter turn on the headlands. Not suprised it is light, dont see any ballast on the front unless you have fluid filled tires? I could never figure out why they didnt sell more 9250s - compared to a 7250 or 7240 it had ~100 more hp, better traction/flotation, better visability, and was a little cheaper. 9270 and 9280 where the workhorses and had the bulk of sales. They made 9210 and 9230's also for dairy farmers, but I rarely see them. I grew up in an area with Deere, IH and AC as the major brands. None of the dealers had a clear advantage over the others. I saw the same thing when I worked for CaseIH, each OEM has their strong and weak points so dealer support usually dictates which brand rules an area. ISZ
I read this thread the other day and thought, DAMN that coulda been bad.. I was runnin the roads yesterday w/ the wife & came up on a tractor.. I had an instant flashback to this thread.. so I hung back and waited.. Another car came up behind me & wasn't as patient.. He whipped around me & the tractor.. didnt see the oncoming dump truck.. He ended up in the ditch on the left side of the road w/ everyone blowing their horns.. I stopped & went back, the DT kept going & so didnt the tractor.. The guy was ok, so after a few choice words, I left him in the ditch to find his own way out..
Wow. Well, I hope he **** his pants and learned a cheap lesson. I was moving fields yesterday in a different tractor and had another guy get right up on my tail and then hug the center line like he was about to pass. Again, I was getting ready to make a left turn. I flipped on my blinker, and to my surprise, he just stopped and patiently waited for me to enter the field.
Crumple zones on farm and construction equipment are identified as 'the other stuff involved in the collision'
Worked with more than a few 9250 RC specials, they had inboard planetaries and slider axles in addition to the steerable front axle.
I always roll my eyes when people talk about 'the most dangerous' jobs in north america and farming isnt mentioned or down the list. Average person doesnt realize that when farmers get hurt there isnt an OSHA/MSHA or safety dept investigation. Nobody hears about it unless they get maimed or die. I know at least 3 times I lucked out and didnt get seriously hurt or worse. Plus it continues to amaze me how people will walk right behind running equipment. Good luck during planting season!. ISZ
Just give it a little time ...... Probably look like FSHA .
We are on the road a lot with equipment almost every day it just seems people have a death wish the way they drive I figure I must be pretty good they are always waving the number one sign to me out the window I just smile and wave laugh a little how stupid they are
We farm a field about a mile from our dairy that comes right out flat to the road. Has a ditch, but it's so full it's pretty much flat to the roadway now. Its a stoney SOB that requires hours of picking every year. 2 years ago the planter rolled a couple large 150+ pound rocks up that had been missed right near the road. Must have just barely been covered. Anyways, we never made it back down there to get them out of the field before the corn got tall enough to cover them. About the third week of June we drove by and saw that someone had driven off into the field, done some donuts and tore up the field. Went right over one of those rocks and tore a hole in their transmission pan. There was an oil trail down the road from where they exited the field to where their truck lay dead on the side of the road, about a mile up the road. Sometimes karma catches them instantly
Rolling it onto the roof and placing one of them rocks on the bottom painted up with a smiley face would have been fitting.
Equipment and combines have gotten so big they hardly fit on the roads anymore. We have a lot of narrow blacktops around here with no shoulders on them. Most farmers are very considerate and will pull over when they can to let you by. I have run into a few that think they own the road and won't even let you have your lane when you meet them. It's hard meeting them with a loaded truck, you run off the edge you wreck. It goes both ways with rules of the road. I give them all the room I can but some of them are hard to deal with.
I understand what you mean. I do what I can to give passing room or stop and let traffic by when things get backed up. I just can't stand those that want to pass in an unsafe area like the camaro that hit me. On a positive note, we're done planting our stuff now and will finish the little bit of custom work today. 900 acres of corn and 650 acres of beans. Feels good to have it done this early. We're usually struggling to finish by the first of June. Next week we will chop our first cutting of alfalfa, about 400 acres. And the week after if the weather is fair we will start making dry hay. April 1st through July 1st is always non-stop around here.
When I road my tractors on a busy road I like to see a few cars backed up behind me. I figure it gives the fast movers somebody else to run into.
We got hit a couple days ago. We were hauling some feed for our ranch, turned into the road, getting up to speed, out of nowhere, comes this druggie with his two month old baby in his little shitter car, slams right into the back end of our trailer, totals his car, but we came out of it fairly well. Bent the gooseneck, and bent the ramps on our equipment trailer a bit, but everyone survived.
Glad to hear you guys came out Ok. I've lost count of all the near misses I've had since then. People get severely impatient when they can't go 5 over the speed limit.
Part of the blame rests with the farmers, I must say. The ones around here are a-holes. They road their combines and tractors with duals or even triples. Some of these rigs are 20+ feet wide going down narrow country roads. 90% of the time when I see a guy on the road in a tractor or combine he is talking on the phone. A few months back I followed a combine on the road for 10 miles. He had no mirrors and no idea anyone was behind him. The stuff farmers get away with is unbelievable to me. I see it on the roads all the time. I was headed through town one day and here was a grain auger sitting right in the middle of the road. A few seconds later here comes a tractor dragging a drawbar on the road behind a small wagon. He got out and pushed the auger onto the sidewalk... These guys decided the best place to fill up the sprayer was right in the middle of a public road. Not sure what was wrong with the perfectly flat field on either side... 1000 gallon fuel tank plus a 30+ foot platform cart down the main road at 45 mph. No placards, no lights, no trailer brakes, no license plates. I bet the driver had a hazmat and doubles endorsement...
I guess the guy with the combine should just put it in his pocket and walk down the road in the ditch so as to not worry all the important towners. How to h is he to get from farm to farm. I’ve driven farm equipment and construction equipment all over the country and the worst thing you can do is drop a wheel onto the shoulder and leave almost enough room for someone to pass safely, or some ahole will come flying by weather it’s safe or not. ( because their time is much more important than everyone else’s safety)
Always a few cowboys out there that move farm equipment with no respect for anyone, including those giving them a wide berth. Pretty good bunch around here, not many issues caused by the farmer. Impatience and stupidity are the usual reasons. While back a friend was crossing the freeway viaduct with the combine, grain table in tow. Met a car halfway, the woman threw a fit! Off the deep end, told Tom he had to back-up so she could keep going. Tom calmly told her he wasn't backing up and that he had all day to sit there.....lol She turned around. Ed
Ed, I had a similar event happen when I was 19. I was heading down the road in a Deere 8650 with a field cultivator and rolling harrow on a long tongue behind that. I forget the overall length, but it was long. I was going down a narrow dirt road that was about 2 ft wider than me with trees tight to the road on both sides. Over a hill comes a shiny Lincoln town car with an old man behind the wheel. He stops when he sees me, and stays put. I slow down and stop about 20 ft from him. Then I see him motion for me to backup. Not a chance. I motion to him to backup, he doesn't move. Just sits there. Finally he gets the idea that I'm not moving, he backs up about 30 ft into a driveway and I proceed to pass. Old man glared at me as I crept past him. Oh well
If you live in farm country you should be used to this I always told my kids its harvest time or its planting time be on the look out for farm equipment on the road. I always give them enough room to get by even if I have to stop or pull in a drive way. I don't pass them unless the pull over for me.
I've always been told that ag machinery has the right of way in this state. You are trying to get somewhere, they are making food.
Probably just a handy place to tender the sprayer . Road don't look that busy at the time .
Not to mention the land owner pays the property tax on the county road area in our neck of the woods . Funny story …. Sometimes we have an innovative cow get past the fence & out in the county road or over in the corn field . Some drivers tend to " freak out " that a cow might take a notion to cross a fence for better pasture . They will stop in the farm & file a complaint about it once in awhile . I'm like …. " If it bothers you that much stop driving though here on our road that we pay the tax on " ! They aint got a damn clue where hamburgers come from ……. McDonald's ? LOL !
I've done the opposite a few times with lights and brakes on everything. It takes some doing to get a 35' header trailer backed up to another trailer. After the first time, I got smart and pulled the fuel trailer up as close as possible. People will pull some crazy **** if they think you are trying to make room for them.
so when the farmer drives on other roads whos taxes are paid by other people they accommodate others needs? If I cut a tree in my yard and it falls across the road are others supposed to sit and wait while I cut it up and split it ? would it bother you if somebody drove through your field to go around you?
You are barking up the wrong tree by making those types of statements here. In every piece of farm country I've been in farm equipment has the right of way. If you want to push the issue just try to call the police and report it when it happens. You won't get very far.
I didn't say they don't have right of way I'm not complaining. I'm saying there is no reason to block the road in most cases. Right of way is not the same as blocking.
Again, nothing can be done about it here. Just call the sheriff when it happens. If you get anywhere I'll be pleasantly surprised.
I'm not calling any sheriff. Just was wondering. The way I understand it pedestrians have the right of way in most cases. So when they decide to sit in the road and block it I guess all of us will come to a stop and when we call the sheriff they won't do anything about it. Cause they have right of way.
Happens in Seattle all the time. They call them protestors.
Thought I felt something under my truck driving through there the other day when I seen a crowd of them. New things to me from living in Texas. Be glad to move from here.
I've been thinking that this is a good place to be from for a long time.
A loaded 18 wheeler on a soft two track road with opposite direction traffic in the form of a hunter or Sunday driver, and them having no idea that a heavy truck will roll over or just sink in by leaving the tracks - they expect you to yield ! Fun stand-offs.