Farm Safety and the Use of Vehicles on Public Roads

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Most farms and agricultural businesses use a wide variety of different types of vehicles, from tractors to harvesters to ATVs to a variety of construction equipment.

In addition, many farm vehicles use a variety of trailers to carry and transport loads within farm or agribusiness boundaries, which may be found well alongside public highways.

It is also quite common for people on farms to use a variety of general motor vehicles and trailers to transport other pieces of farm machinery to and from their land and along public highways.

This area of ​​farm machinery use on public highways is extremely important, as there are generally specific laws and regulations regarding the use of farm machinery and their loads on public highways, as well as age limits on who can drive what. There are specific requirements in a relationship. vehicles on such highways.

It is quite possible that the laws and regulations relating to public highways are slightly different from the laws relating to the use of these vehicles on a farm or agricultural business.

All the rules will be slightly different depending on where the farm or agribusiness is located, but there are a number of important areas that can be highlighted, and where specific information needs to be obtained.

It is important to understand what a local authority means by a public highway. While this may seem obvious to anyone using a normal motor vehicle, the meaning of a highway can vary in terms of what types of vehicles are permitted to use it.

While most public roads will be open for use by any member of the public, there are likely to be restrictions on what types of vehicles can use them, and conditions as to the age of the person who can drive on them. Are.

One specific area that needs to be clarified is the age at which an operative may use any agricultural machinery on a public highway.

For using a motor vehicle on a public highway, a specific age shall be delegated by the local authority. It is likely that someone of a young age, often a late teen, would be using agricultural machinery on agricultural land, and would also want to use such machinery on public highways.

A local authority is likely to recognize this as a potential issue, I have some sort of statute specifying what type of vehicle can be driven by people of a specific age. There is likely to be a difference between a normal public highway and a public highway that intersects farmland or commercial land, which may involve much shorter travel.

Tractors and agricultural machinery often carry large loads, which can pose a real danger to other road users. These hazards may be due to the size of the load itself, or often because the size of the load and vehicle must travel very slowly, often causing congestion and frustration with other road users, which may pose potential hazards. Are.

Agricultural equipment may have specific requirements depending on the law relating to braking systems, bumpers, mirrors, horns and lights. A vehicle carrying any type of load needs to ensure that any trailer that is used has fully functional electrical and mechanical equipment as specified by local law.

The use of safety chains is not only good practice, but is likely to be a legal requirement. All loads are potentially a risk to other road users, either because they may list and either fall on other users, or may disturb the power and drivability of the vehicle pulling them. Therefore, the load must be properly secured and checked, not only at the start of the trip, but also intermittently throughout, when it is safe to do so.

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