One of these came out of a field gate and spiked one of the cars in front of ours this afternoon at Silverdale in Lancashire.
Woman driver with two kids strapped in the back seat survived but all were distressed. Anyone sitting in the passenger seat would have been beheaded.
I presume the spikes are for lifting haybales as on a forklift. The road was narrow, winding and high sides with thick hedgerow and the field entrance was obscured on the bend. The driver would have had to pull out circa 10 feet into the road in order to see from his cab if the way forward was clear, but from the [censored] on the road surface it was obvious he'd been doing this blind exit all day towing a trailer of green clippings.
So, yet another hazard, watch out for metal spikes coming out of a hedgerow. The signs - mud on road and grass clippings etc in front of a concealed field entrance. Mike
One of these came out of a field gate and spiked one of the cars in front of ours this afternoon at Silverdale in Lancashire.
Woman driver with two kids strapped in the back seat survived but all were distressed. Anyone sitting in the passenger seat would have been beheaded.
I presume the spikes are for lifting haybales as on a forklift. The road was narrow, winding and high sides with thick hedgerow and the field entrance was obscured on the bend. The driver would have had to pull out circa 10 feet into the road in order to see from his cab if the way forward was clear, but from the [censored] on the road surface it was obvious he'd been doing this blind exit all day towing a trailer of green clippings.
So, yet another hazard, watch out for metal spikes coming out of a hedgerow. The signs - mud on road and grass clippings etc in front of a concealed field entrance.
Or drive so that you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear...
One of these came out of a field gate and spiked one of the cars in front of ours this afternoon at Silverdale in Lancashire.
Woman driver with two kids strapped in the back seat survived but all were distressed. Anyone sitting in the passenger seat would have been beheaded.
I presume the spikes are for lifting haybales as on a forklift. The road was narrow, winding and high sides with thick hedgerow and the field entrance was obscured on the bend. The driver would have had to pull out circa 10 feet into the road in order to see from his cab if the way forward was clear, but from the [censored] on the road surface it was obvious he'd been doing this blind exit all day towing a trailer of green clippings.
So, yet another hazard, watch out for metal spikes coming out of a hedgerow. The signs - mud on road and grass clippings etc in front of a concealed field entrance. Mike
Weird they usualy drive with the prongs pointing safely upwards. That's quite an oversight.
Or drive so that you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear...
The road may well have been seen to be clear. Just how slowly would you have to travel to never hit or be hit by something emerging from the side of the road? Picture this scene. You are cycling along a row of parked cars, a driver opens his/her door, you hit the door. Are you to blame for going too fast?
Or drive so that you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear...
The road may well have been seen to be clear. Just how slowly would you have to travel to never hit or be hit by something emerging from the side of the road? Picture this scene. You are cycling along a row of parked cars, a driver opens his/her door, you hit the door. Are you to blame for going too fast?
Nope, but I'm to blame for riding too close to the parked cars. The bloke who's opened his door is to blame too. I occasionally drive a tractor, and the only thing you can do is emerge from the field very slowly and hope anyone coming has their eyes open and isn't driving at a silly speed.
Or drive so that you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear...
The road may well have been seen to be clear. Just how slowly would you have to travel to never hit or be hit by something emerging from the side of the road? Picture this scene. You are cycling along a row of parked cars, a driver opens his/her door, you hit the door. Are you to blame for going too fast?
John
No. But you shouldn't be riding so close to a line of parked cars.
The road may well have been seen to be clear. Just how slowly would you have to travel to never hit or be hit by something emerging from the side of the road? Picture this scene. You are cycling along a row of parked cars, a driver opens his/her door, you hit the door. Are you to blame for going too fast?
Nope, but I'm to blame for riding too close to the parked cars. The bloke who's opened his door is to blame too. I occasionally drive a tractor, and the only thing you can do is emerge from the field very slowly and hope anyone coming has their eyes open and isn't driving at a silly speed.
Fair point. I don't ride in towns but I imagine it may be impractical to ride with the left end of your handlebar 3 feet out from the sides of the parked cars. I do live in Mid Wales and see lots of tractors. Mostly they have their implements up high when they emerge from fields and can easily be seen over the hedges.
The road may well have been seen to be clear. Just how slowly would you have to travel to never hit or be hit by something emerging from the side of the road? Picture this scene. You are cycling along a row of parked cars, a driver opens his/her door, you hit the door. Are you to blame for going too fast?
Nope, but I'm to blame for riding too close to the parked cars. The bloke who's opened his door is to blame too. I occasionally drive a tractor, and the only thing you can do is emerge from the field very slowly and hope anyone coming has their eyes open and isn't driving at a silly speed.
Fair point. I don't ride in towns but I imagine it may be impractical to ride with the left end of your handlebar 3 feet out from the sides of the parked cars.
The way I think of it is that I wouldn't do it in my car, and if I were on a driving test and I regularly drove within "dooring" distance of a car, it'd certainly be a mark against me, if not a fail.
Quoted message said:
I do live in Mid Wales and see lots of tractors. Mostly they have their implements up high when they emerge from fields and can easily be seen over the hedges.
Occasionally there are inconveniently placed trees.
One of these came out of a field gate and spiked one of the cars in front of ours this afternoon at Silverdale in Lancashire.
Or drive so that you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear...
Eh?
The OP said it came out from a gate (ie, the side of the road, through a concealed entrance). The road could be dead straight for 14 miles and still have something emerge unexpectedly from a concealed point 2 feet in front of you. Presumably you advocate driving so you can stop within 2', but what if something suddenly emerges 1'?
6" ?
3" ?
....
best stay at home, I think, since it's necesary to always be able to stop in 10^-14 inches.
On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 21:36:54 +0100, Doki <[email hidden]>
Quoted message said:
taywood said:
One of these came out of a field gate and spiked one of the cars in front of ours this afternoon at Silverdale in Lancashire.
Or drive so that you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear...
Eh?
The OP said it came out from a gate (ie, the side of the road, through a concealed entrance). The road could be dead straight for 14 miles and still have something emerge unexpectedly from a concealed point 2 feet in front of you. Presumably you advocate driving so you can stop within 2', but what if something suddenly emerges 1'?
6" ?
3" ?
...
best stay at home, I think, since it's necesary to always be able to stop in 10^-14 inches.
It's a very rare situation where you can't see a tractor pulling out of a gate at all, as they're very big things, though having great spikes stuck out in front of you makes creeping out slowly as daft an idea as lurching out.
The road may well have been seen to be clear. Just how slowly would you have to travel to never hit or be hit by something emerging from the side of the road? Picture this scene. You are cycling along a row of parked cars, a driver opens his/her door, you hit the door. Are you to blame for going too fast?
Nope, but I'm to blame for riding too close to the parked cars. The bloke who's opened his door is to blame too. I occasionally drive a tractor, and the only thing you can do is emerge from the field very slowly and hope anyone coming has their eyes open and isn't driving at a silly speed.
Fair point. I don't ride in towns but I imagine it may be impractical to ride with the left end of your handlebar 3 feet out from the sides of the parked cars. I do live in Mid Wales and see lots of tractors. Mostly they have their implements up high when they emerge from fields and can easily be seen over the hedges.
John
Do you not have towns with parked cars in mid-Wales?
Or drive so that you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear...
The road may well have been seen to be clear. Just how slowly would you have to travel to never hit or be hit by something emerging from the side of the road? Picture this scene. You are cycling along a row of parked cars, a driver opens his/her door, you hit the door. Are you to blame for going too fast?
No, you're to blame for not being far enough out into the road that an opening car door can catch you.
G PS: Yes, it's their fault really, but it's your weekend in hospital
"Eatmorepies" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Fair point. I don't ride in towns but I imagine it may be impractical to ride with the left end of your handlebar 3 feet out from the sides of the parked cars.
If oncoming traffic stops me riding a safe distance from parked cars I would probably wait and let them pass, rather than chance it, as cycling within the "door zone" is for cyclists who have a death wish.
One of these came out of a field gate and spiked one of the cars in front of ours this afternoon at Silverdale in Lancashire.
Woman driver with two kids strapped in the back seat survived but all were distressed. Anyone sitting in the passenger seat would have been beheaded.
I presume the spikes are for lifting haybales as on a forklift.
That's right - new style round type hay and 'haylage' bales. Utterly lethal, those spikes. Often carried at just the right height to impale a car driver, or a cyclist. Very solid indeed.
. I occasionally drive a tractor, and the only thing you can do is emerge from the field very slowly and hope anyone coming has their eyes open and isn't driving at a silly speed.
I appreciate that such drivers are often working alone but if a field entrance is really that blind then maybe there should be someone else about to help supervise the movement onto the road . Perhaps the field entrance needs modifying having the gate/ hedge line set back a bit so the tractor operator can see better. Yes it cost money and effort but it may be better done before an accident and before somebody from the HSE orders such things.
Quoted message said:
I do live in Mid Wales and see lots of tractors. Mostly they have their implements up high when they emerge from fields and can easily be seen over the hedges.
John
Occasionally the implements have to be lower than ideal to avoid power/phone cables that are often run along the hedgeline by the road. Power lines have been raised over the past few years as agricultural equipment has got bigger but not all have been done yet.
I managed as teenager to take out the phone lines to the farm I was working on .It was 1am and one stack of bales was left after the trailer was full so the farmer said bring them back on the lift. It was a private lane so it was legal but had toI raise the lift so the headlamps could shine underneath. Completely forgot about the phone lines and could not see them. Twang. Fortunately they were still the old copper single wires and armed with a trailer ,ladder and some strip connectors a repair was made without telling the Post office as it was then.
"Simonb" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:
Weird they usualy drive with the prongs pointing safely upwards. That's quite an oversight.
I've seen them driving along pointing forward on a number of occasions. I think it's mainly a case of "I'm only going 100 yards, I'll not bother putting them upright" but as this accident shows, it's a bloody stupid idea.
. I occasionally drive a tractor, and the only thing you can do is emerge from the field very slowly and hope anyone coming has their eyes open and isn't driving at a silly speed.
I appreciate that such drivers are often working alone but if a field entrance is really that blind then maybe there should be someone else about to help supervise the movement onto the road . Perhaps the field entrance needs modifying having the gate/ hedge line set back a bit so the tractor operator can see better. Yes it cost money and effort but it may be better done before an accident and before somebody from the HSE orders such things.
In most cases you should be able to pull out of a "blind" entrance quite safely if you move out slowly. The OP stated that the field entrance was on a bend, and I reckon it's a simple case of one party or the other going too quickly, along with the tractor driver not putting the spikes up out of the way. It's very easy to go round a corner at a speed the car can easily handle but without enough forward visibility to be driving at that speed. Particularly when you've got high hedges.
"Simonb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:
Eatmorepies said:
Quoted message said:
Or drive so that you can stop in the distance you can see to be clear...
The road may well have been seen to be clear. Just how slowly would you have to travel to never hit or be hit by something emerging from the side of the road? Picture this scene. You are cycling along a row of parked cars, a driver opens his/her door, you hit the door. Are you to blame for going too fast?
John
No. But you shouldn't be riding so close to a line of parked cars.
This is a dilemma riding past a line of stationary cars, ride on the outside and risk oncoming traffic or on the inside and risk doors opening to let passengers out. Presumably the HC says overtake only on the outside?
"Simonb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:
Eatmorepies said:
> Or drive so that you can stop in the distance you can see to be > clear... >
The road may well have been seen to be clear. Just how slowly would you have to travel to never hit or be hit by something emerging from the side of the road? Picture this scene. You are cycling along a row of parked cars, a driver opens his/her door, you hit the door. Are you to blame for going too fast?
John
No. But you shouldn't be riding so close to a line of parked cars.
This is a dilemma riding past a line of stationary cars, ride on the outside and risk oncoming traffic or on the inside and risk doors opening to let passengers out. Presumably the HC says overtake only on the outside?
Simply fit a bazooka to your bike, together with a missile guidance system that automatically fires it if it recognises a car door open in your path.
Apart from your bike suddenly launching backwards with the recoil, you should survive unscathed if someone car doors you. (I don't count mild burns to the legs to be becoming scathed.)
HTH. Shouldn't cost more than a few hundred thousand pounds to fit.
Alternatively, overtake stationary cars on the right.
only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right, and there is room to do so stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left
-- David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.
