Stricter tractor road rules expected

REGULATIONS GOVERNING the use of agricultural vehicles on public roads are likely to become more stringent after the Road Safety Authority (RSA) expressed concerns about the practice.

Among the problems identified is that a 16-year-old can drive a tractor and trailer weighing more than 30 tonnes without a driving test and the fact that there is no road-worthiness test for most agricultural vehicles.

With tractors becoming larger and faster and increasingly using public roads, the RSA yesterday published a consultation document outlining its safety concerns and calling for responses from interested parties. Noel Brett, head of the RSA, said the existing guidelines were out of date and agricultural vehicles were towing huge loads at significant speeds on tyres designed for farmland.

While acknowledging the “critical role” of the farming community, Mr Brett said this raised concerns over braking and the possibility of a trailer jack-knifing or overturning. The RSA also has concerns about tailbacks caused by tractors on public roads but has no suggestion for how to address this.

The document suggests a 40km/h speed limit for agricultural vehicles and the stricter enforcement of the motorway ban on vehicles travelling at less than 50km/h.

Highlighting the rise in farm vehicles for non-farming activities such as haulage, the RSA said it was keen to ensure exemptions available to the farming community were not “abused”.

These include a motor tax for tractors of €85; rebated fuel, an exemption on the requirement for a tachograph to measure a driver’s hours, and the fact that a haulage licence is not required when the goods are livestock, milk or certain cereal crops.

The RSA proposes registering and taxing tractors and trailers used for non-farm work as a goods vehicle, which would see the annual tax rise to €1,569 per annum. In relation to road worthiness, the RSA noted a recent UK survey of tractors had found that 68 per cent did not meet UK road use standards. In the absence of corresponding testing in this State, the authority said it was reasonable to assume the results in Ireland would be similar.

The consultation document is available on www.rsa.ie