right , serious rant , near where i live, on the A447 in a village called stapleton, there are quite a few farms, now i know farmers have to earn a living like the rest of us, but the mud there vehicles are leaving for a good 300 yrds is down right dangerous and disgusting. I am not talking a bit you can swerve round i am talking big peices like bowling ball size. we had a police officer in our shop the other day and he said they are aware of it, what reallly pi**es me off is its the main route to mallory park so a route that bikers use to get to the circuit, the police use there valuable time to stop us for plates , loud pipes, how about them doing something about this before a biker is seriously hurt or even worse heaven forbid, also how about the farmers at least taking some of the mud off there vehicles, i know it would be a ball ache, but is it really such a bind before a serious accident occurs !!!! rant over
If you inform the police they only pass it onto the council who pass it back. The farmer is legally obliged to clear it up, there is a law pertaining to it.
For example if I shed a load from a truck I would be prosecuted for it. Farmers are not exempt and they are liable for the costs of clearing it up.
The very least the council should do is erect warning signs surely , for instance 'danger loose soil/sand on road' pre-warned is pre-armed , the same as for wet surface.
take extra care when in the sticks! nice quiet country roads can be death traps!!probably more dangerous than motorways and duall carrigeways!least everyones goin the same way![well most of the time till a car full of Polish fruit pickers or a confused octagenarean appears] there are signs saying tractors turning and farm entrances and plant entances etc where there may be mud on rd but always be extra careful in the sticks!
Speaking as a farmer and a biker, I couldn't agree more that there is nothing stops the heart quite so quickly as coming round a bend and being faced with great clods of mud on the road. Unfortunately it is rarely practical to wash the vehicle off when travelling from field to field working, as the facilities are seldom available, however I agree that anyone who has to use a road in these instances, (and farmers will avoid doing so whenever possible) should erect warning signs and the mud should be removed as soon as the job is completed.
I have read somewhere (don't ask I can't remember) that farm vehicles were only allowed to travel 2 miles between fields, and no more. While riding my bike I followed a farm vehicle for at least 5 miles. Man was I hacked off, I didn't think there was anything slower than my bike on the road
It is the duty of the local highway authority to ensure the roads are kept clean and free of snow for safety reasons.
If a member of the public rings the Police and lodges an official complaint they will pass this onto the highway authority.
Ideally this would mean that the highway authority would come out and clean it up and send the farmer the bill.
Ok, this doesn't often happen as we know. However, it does mean that the phone call regarding the mud is logged at the Police station. Then if someone was to have an accident because of the mud (or indeed snow), the highway authority is liable.