Cork tractor driver fined for 'toddling along on his way

tphase

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-41367346.html

Fined €600 - hopefully he picked up 3 points as well. Unfortunately this kind of behaviour is all too common but rarely prosecuted

youtheman

A fella near me bought his young son a tractor………. for going to school!. Apparently you can drive a tractor in Ireland at 16 year old. Can you image the mayhem if all out young kids drove tractors to school !.

magicbastarder

Worth noting that the fine was such because he failed to pay the FCPN and has 12 previous road traffic offences under his belt. If he had paid the FCPN we'd have never heard about this.

Padraig Mor

Good. Now starting fining farmers and builders for leaving roads covered in slippery mud too.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121978003#Comment_121978003

It's quiet common in some places. Also they do tractor cruises in the evenings.

If they are legal then they've as much right to drive as everyone else who's legal.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121978003#Comment_121978003

Always could drive a tractor once you are 16, well as long as I can remember

In terms of buying one just to go to school, I very much doubt that. Do you know how much a tractor costs?

DarkJager21

Right job, whatever about "understanding" tractors on the roads but thick oblivious arrogant **** like this are dime a dozen. Hope there's even more to come yet

youtheman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121981210#Comment_121981210

Doooh……….it was a very old cheap one. Roll Bar but no cab.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121981257#Comment_121981257

I think the story just fell to pieces 😂

Clo-Clo

In terms of "toddling along" it would be better if we could do something about the motorway's in Ireland, I drove along the M50 last week in non rush hour. In the actual lane you are supposed to drive in and passed about 30-40 cars without ever having to leave the lane as they "toddling along" in either the middle lane or the right hand lane.

Driving from Cork last week and its great road till you get to about 30-40 mins from Dublin and then all lanes are filled with drivers "toddling along"

A lot more drivers affected on motorway and then of course you have people diving from one lane to another to get past people, a lot more dangerous

colm_mcm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121981342#Comment_121981342

so you can’t use a motorway properly either, but other people should be punished?

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121981370#Comment_121981370

How did I know this would be posted :-)

Go on tell me how you would have driven(I will wait for you to google) :-)

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121981490#Comment_121981490

For someone who spends a lot of time on boards telling others they are wrong you've left yourself open for a sucker punch here😁

big_drive

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121978003#Comment_121978003

It's becoming a thing in a lot of rural areas. With the problems getting a place on school buses a lot are doing this instead. I know in West Cork you have big numbers at it

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121981490#Comment_121981490

Undertaking/passing on the left at speed is also a no-no. You should move right, overtake, and then move back in.

Passing on the left is only for passing stationary traffic turning right or in slow-moving/stop-start traffic which the M50 off-peak wouldn't qualify as.

To be fair though, there's a lot of people/posters who do the same. Doesn't make it right however.

cnocbui

Passing on the left should be legal. it's the only solution to the high preveleance of beligerant sods who believe they should control traffic flow from the outside lane.

I used to regularly travel an N road that had a two lane overtaking section. Some drivers would be happily doing 90 until they reached the overtaking section where they would then stay in the outside lane and find 100 kph, as if by magic. No inclination to keep left, whatsoever, but no one could gainsay that as they were now doing the speed limit so of course no one should be passing anyway. Then of course they would slow back to 90 after the passing lane section finished.

The worst example of such nonsense I have ever encounered in my life was on a dual carriageway, which is now a motorway. It was just after dark and I came upon a funeral procession headed by a hearse, probably at least 15 cars long, travelling at 60-70 in the outside lane. This was a major inter-city route that was months away from being a motorway when some works had been finalised. Thou shalt not pass.

Unbelievable.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992012#Comment_121992012

So move across two lanes, to then move across two lanes

You would spend the entire times going across the motorway to pass people "toddling" along in the middle lane.

It might be better to enforce people to get out of the middle lane for once on the likes of the M50, especially when you see them enter to motroway and immediately bust into the middle lane to slow down in most cases and drive up the road

Maybe I am wrong to undertake but it's a lot more dangerous IMO to weave across multiple lanes all the time to miss a car which is never going to move otu of the middle lane

Whocare

Good video on tiktok of idiot car driver passing tractor on bend having minor head on crash put @fionnymc in tiktok (don't know how link them on this site

blackbox

There's a difference between weaving and changing lanes to carry out a proper overtaking manoeuvre.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992192#Comment_121992192

I agree with you on incorrect lane usage in general - definitely one that needs to be tackled through enforcement.

But undertaking is far more dangerous IMO.. think about it - the other driver won't expect you to pass them on the inside and so may well just pull in on top of you as they get to their exit if you happen to be in the process of passing - I see it often enough as it is when cars will just cut across regardless as it is.

Passing on the right is the safest option and if they addressed the middle lane toddling it would solve the rest.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992593#Comment_121992593

If they pull in on top of you they are not using their mirrors so it doesn't matter which side of the car you are on. I never move any lane without looking in mirrors so don't see why someone in a middle lane would just randomly pull over without checking.

Passing on right is safest and I am not saying it isn't, but weaving across multiple lanes to pass someone having a nice Sunday drive in the middle lane is not

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992593#Comment_121992593

Undertaking is legal in Australia on multi lane marked roads, and in the US, I believe. It's no more inherently unsafe than passing on the right. Drivers changing lanes in either direction shouldn't be expecting or assuming, they should look and evaluate based on observation.

Oscar_Madison

in general I find tractor drivers ok - most will pull in when it’s safe to do so or will actually motion you to overtake (yeah I know not particularly safe) - it’s really only the odd one here/there that doesn’t have good road manners - it’s usually around harvest time - I’d say they’re chasing their tail and just want it get on with things - but still, a bit of courtesy would be no harm

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992593#Comment_121992593

The failure to address middle/right lane hogging in recent years has lead to if you can't beat em joing em attitude by an increasing number of drivers. As posted previously I'm not in the habit of doing the dance on the M50, so I either stay left and undertake (as long as not coming up to an exit) or stay in middle lane and only have to move over one lane to overtake any hoggers.

As I see it, there is absolutely no policing of hoggers so pragmatism is the order of the day

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992012#Comment_121992012

I've often been on the M50 and other motorways when the lanes are full but traffic is flowing at 80+. It regularly happens that the traffic in the overtaking lane(s) is going slower than the traffic in the driving lane, should I stand on my brakes every time my lane is going faster than the lane to my right?

People saying that passing on the left is dangerous because drivers don't expect you to be there are missing that you have to ensure that you change lanes safely and have to give way to traffic already in the lane, they should be checking for traffic before changing lanes. If you don't pass on the left you are then sitting in the drivers blind spot and still at risk of them crashing into you when they change lanes.

How many multi lane roads did we have when the law on passing on the left was made?

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121992192#Comment_121992192

this presumes three lanes; several years ago, i drove to west cork on a sunday evening thinking 'sure the roads will be reasonably quiet'. sports blind as i am, i had not considered that cork and limerick were playing in the all ireland hurling final that day. at one point (probably somewhere around tipp or thereabouts) i could see probably 1 to 1.5km in front of me and probably 1km behind. we were the only car in the main lane. there were dozens - and i mean dozens and dozens - in the outer lane. i was doing probably 10-20km/h more than they were. and i wasn't going to slow down to match them.

djan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121993734#Comment_121993734

Does tend to grind my gears seeing the first lane often be the faster moving with gobshites darting to the middle and outer right lane right as the join without actually overtaking anyone. While I understand people giving up, it just makes it worse as monkey see monkey do kicks in. Undertaking increases risk of collisions which has been proven by many a research across countries.

It's a shame that this is so prevalent as it severely lowers the capacity of a multi lane road. Go drive in Germany, Czechia or Austria and you will see how much a difference it makes. You'll also get flashed within about 3s of overtaking if you don't move back and police will pull people over and fine on the spot often.

While the lack of enforcement by the guards is a big issue, I am constantly surprised by how many people think that it's ok to drive in the middle or outer lane and even as far as calling it the "fast lane". Perhaps do a simple reminder of multi lane rules and have some signs up across motorways or include this in the driving lessons/test and bring out drivers onto faster multi lane roads.

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122000511#Comment_122000511

Unfortunately Speed kills is the only game in town and what gets measured gets done. This has led to an almost negligible enforcement of any other road safety issues and humans being humans the result is a rather blase adherence to basic rotr.

prawnsambo

If people can't even indicate properly at roundabouts, what chance do we have of getting them to observe proper lane discipline on motorways?

I've never seen any PSAs on this. Nor heard any on the radio. Yet it's (imo) one of the biggest causes of tailbacks and accidents on motorways and dual carriageways.