Debris from field on road .

Indeed and failure to keep it clean is an offence, but that has nothing to do with civil liability.

The difficulty here is proving that the farmers actions are (a) negligent, and (b) responsible for the damage, yes you may be able to show the tractor dragged mud onto the road, but, how do you show it also deposited the rock which did the damage.

That said, assuming the farmer denies being responsible for the rock, that it was already there, you could then try argue the mud hid the danger, and so the farmer was partially liable, but it could be a weak argument because the behaviour must he negligent.

True there's never an accident on the roads, it's always someones fault.

The farmer can't say the council should clean it because the farmer has dragged it onto the road and they ARE responsible for keeping the road clean and is committing an offence by not cleaning the road. As I said it isn't 100% the farmers fault but they will get a large percentage of the money off the farmers insurance.

"(10) (a) A person who, without lawful authority or the consent of a road authority—

(i) defaces a public road by writing or by any other means,

(ii) damages a public road,

(iii) excavates a public road,

(iv) (I) places or deposits any material or thing on a public road,

(II) permits dung or urine from an animal owned by him or any material or thing which falls from a vehicle owned or used by him, to be left on a public road, or

(III) does any other thing,

such that the material, thing, dung or urine or the doing of such other thing is a hazard or potential hazard to persons using a public road or obstructs or interferes with the safe use of a public road or the maintenance of a public road,shall be guilty of an offence."

That's actually quite interesting re points 4 and onwards as all are essentially ignored every day of week and I know this from living in Rural Ireland. Obviously the summer months are the worst but there's not a day goes by were I don't see cattle being either moved to another field across a main or indeed side road, this also occurs when for example a number of local farmers may have their milking parlours a distance from were cattle are kept.

Ploughing season particularly bad with extraordinary levels of muck and debri spread across roads around rural Ireland. Its quite simply a fact of life in rural Ireland and personally, whilst annoying, particularly right outside my cottage, I live with it and actually clean it up occasionally.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong but whilst the law seems quite specific and clear, is it realistically enforceable when drivers also have a duty of care and attention.

I don't know what the stats are but I'd have to imagine if Farmers nationally were brought before the courts for defacing public roads or if accident claims were brought, the courts system would collapse.

Again, I'm not saying either side of the argument is right or wrong, the entire situation seems to me to be bizzare because on the face of it, it would appear farmers breaking the law daily albeit not deliberately.

"You need the additional factor of hazard, obstruction or interference with safety before the offence is committed. And, since this is a criminal matter, you need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the hazard, etc, was created"

Just to nitpick, but the offence does not just concern anything done where a hazard was created, but, also things done which have the potential to create a hazard, it is not a necessary ingredient that an actual hazard was created.

"I'm just pointing out the law seems quite clear with regard to defacing public roads"

Defacing a public road may be criminal damage in and of itself depending on the nature of the defacement, however, defacing a public road simpliciter is not an offence under the 1993 Act being discussed, it is qualified in that it must create a hazard or potential hazard.

"The same would technically apply if a farmer spreads muck and debri across a road having just ploughed a field etc"

Asides from the creation of a hazard or potential hazard as already discussed a farmer has a legal obligation to prevent any soil or debris from their land falling onto the public, however it is not an offence for failure to clean up unless the LA has issued a notice requiring such, most, if not all LAs issue general notices to all land owners to that effect.

I suppose it can be hard to draw a line between the two, but I can think of mud for example, take a thin dry layer for example which generally would not be a hazard, but, if it rains it can become very slippery, or a pile of debris on the side of the roadway, it may not be a hazard as it currently sits, but, it could be unstable and ready to fall further into the roadway creating a hazard.

I do agree generally, I'm just surprised about the actual law, I wasn't actually fully aware of its wording and am actually more surprised that more enforcement not taking place, I'm honestly of the belief either farmer's not aware of their obligations or is it a case they turn a blind eye so to speak.

I fully understand farmers have to make a living and absolutely respect their right to do so but I speak from personal experience and I'm not exaggerating when I say local to me, the roads are left in a shocking state, with absolutely no attempts made to clean up, I'm amazed actually there's not more accidents.

Cowshit It’s would be a potential hazard to a motorbike.

Real hazard where I live. All year round the local farmers pull half the field out with them onto the roads with the trucks. I've given up cleaning my bike because it's destroyed within days.

Live in a rural area myself and drive every day on the sort of roads I presume the OP is talking about.

I can't get away from the thought that doing 70 km/h into a bend is simply too fast if you're not going to be able to react to any hazard you might encounter as you round that bend.

Consider the following: farmer realises that he's dropped a rock onto the road behind him. He pulls in the first chance he gets, and walks back to remove it. He's bending down to pick it up when OP comes along in one direction at 70 km/h and other car is going the opposite direction at unknown speed. Now, not only can OP not avoid hitting the rock - he can't avoid hitting the farmer as well.

Live in the countryside too and farmers do actually get away with murder, if a construction site left that much crap on the road or had that many heavy vehicles coming onto main roads with no traffic calming/control there would be uproar, farmers seem to get away with throwing down a cone to force all traffic onto the other side of the road to give them room to emerge all the time.

Around here part of it is pure greed too, farmers buying up random fields nowhere connected to their own farm just to expand, there should be some regulation of this that they have to present a plan to say the planning authority as to how this piece of land will be added to their farm without overly affecting the public roads, plenty of housing estates get shot down because planners say they will create too much of a traffic hazard but you see loads of tractor traffic through local villages and mayhem during silage season.

Thanks for that. There was me thinking soil, rocks, cow dung and grass were a hazard to motorcyclists. Glad to cleared that up for me 🙄

I'd also check with the RSA, they should have a procedure when this occurs.

Happens alot for motorbikes & whoever causes the debris usually sorts it out. (The local Co Co also get involved)

Rocks often get caught on vehicles with twin wheels, a lot of farm machinery and especially older trailers are twin wheeled.

The law treats people and animals/objects differently. If I'm driving and an animal runs in front of me the owner is responsible, if I'm driving and a child runs in front of me I'm responsible.