'No good reasons to allow tractors' to use motorways - hauliers
The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has today (Monday, May 26) said the government must kick tractors off the country's motorway network.
According to the president of the IRHA, Ger Hyland, there are "no good reasons to allow tractors" to use motorways.
The IRHA today launched a new campaign to "highlight the dangers that tractors and slow-moving vehicles pose to other road users" on the motorway network.
Hyland said that currently Ireland is currently" the only country in the EU "that allows tractors on motorways.
He believes that to prevent road deaths, "tractors should be removed from our motorways".
Hyland said: “Tractors cause a build-up of traffic behind them on the motorway, with people pulling into other lanes at the last minute to avoid the slow-moving tractor.
"Tractors are a regular sight on our motorways during the summer months, sometimes pulling trailers of hay and silage bales or pulling slurry spreaders or other heavy machinery.
"A family in a car driving in heavy fog on the motorway at 120km per hour could come across this tractor and have very little time to react. This is presenting a clear and present danger to other road users and is a serious tragedy waiting to happen."
Members of the IRHA have also complained that their HGVs are "getting stuck behind tractors and trailers" leading to congestion and dangerous manoeuvring on motorways.
The association has also advised government to "heed guidance" issued by the Health and Safety Authority of Ireland (HSA), who said that, “as a general rule, farm tractors and machinery should not be driven on motorways as they create a serious hazard to other road users due to their slow speed”.
Latest HSA guidance outlines that agricultural vehicles should also be "very well lit when travelling at night-time".
It has also advised farmers that if "traffic builds up behind you over a long distance, other drivers will become frustrated and some will attempt to pass in unsafe places".
"Always be aware of such traffic build-up and if there is a line of cars behind you or where one has been trailing you for five minutes or more, when possible find a safe place to pull over and let traffic by.
"This is simply applying common courtesy to other road users," the HSA stated.
The president of the IRHA also highlighted today what he said were recent tragedies which had involved tractors on motorways.
According to Hyland, in some of these cases, the tractors in question had "been driven by young lads on provisional licenses who just don’t have the driving experience to handle difficult road conditions on a motorway”.
He also said that some tractors driving on motorways "are often driving at speeds below 50km per hour, in particular when going up inclines, especially if they have a heavy load attached".
The IRHA has today called on the government to work with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) to "take action and ensure that tractors stick to local and regional roads and not use motorways that are designed for fast-moving intercity traffic".
