This is the grey area of tractors. Being 16 and driving a modern tractor that has the power to bulldoze anything in front of it, then they attach 20 tonne of stone in an enormous trailer, also without a trailer licence, they seems to skirt around this rule. The won't even know if they hit a person. Just because it's a tractor doesn't mean you can drive it on open roads towing.
The law should specify use on the farm only until full licence is obtained.
a 10 year old can drive a tractor on private farm land. the exemption for tractors I assume dates back to the days when they were small vehicles only capable of slow speeds, and by extension wouldn't be driven any significant distance on the public road, not the behemoths they are now. It should just be scrapped.
I get farmers want to pass the skills and love of farming to their kids, but allowing untrained 16 year olds to drive around public roads is just symptomatic of the lax attitude to safety in the sector (by far the highest occupational death rate every year). You don't see builders getting their unlicensed 16 year olds to drive the dump truck over to the quarry.
I'd agree with most of that. It definitely needs rework to take into account the far larger size, weight and speed of modern tractors - but those kids aren't totally untrained as they frequently have the bones of a decades experience behind the wheel before they are old enough to take it onto the roads.
I know as I'd have been driving solo for almost a decade on private land before I was legally old enough to drive them on the roads if I had any need to (which I didn't). It's scary looking back at it now and at the ages and at kids I know of that age range, as you well know farms are f'king dangerous. That said, I was a better driver of all vehicles than my fully licensed mother. Which terrified me once I realised that aged ~12 years old.
"sure he's been driving that yoke around the farm since he was 6" isn't really the basis for regulating the use of heavy machinery. What other sector has literal children "helping out" in scenarios with dangerous equipment.
I'm with you on that, I'm amazed more children don't die on farms and that people are so surprised when they do. Still, I was only stating that they aren't necessarily untrained with the equipment they're using (even if they are young, stupid and unlicensed).
Probably won't be a popular opinion here but if you raise the age you are going to have to make exceptions for working on a family farm and then it starts to get messy
There are plenty of things kids can do on farms without operating industrial machinery on public roads. This isn’t just about the safety of the kids driving the tractors (which the current rules are putting in active danger) but the safety of other people on the roads too. Letting them off to fuck around in tractors after answering 40 general knowledge questions is just asking for disaster. Whatever about a test to drive them on private land they should never be allowed on public roads.
How is a test going to stop them from using their phones while driving tractors exactly? They need more time to cop on before they're allowed drive them
How is a test going to stop them from using their phones while driving tractors exactly?
That will only be done with a decent Gardaí presence and because you are getting them to get a professional license higher penalties ie you get caught on the phone it's an instant suspension, should be the same for any professional drivers imo
That can only be done with good parenting. Guards are never going to have the present in rural Ireland to catch enough of them to act as a deterrent. Parents need to take responsibility and ban them from using the tractor if they're not acting dangerously.
I do think the penalty for phone use should be higher for the general public but professional drivers have to be held to a higher standard imo, maybe a longer suspension if you were to go down the road of an automatic suspension for everyone
As a former Hgv driver, i'd put them in the same bracket.
If the penalty for phone use is to take their employment away on the spot, then the minimum should be the same. They can get taxis, buses, trains, e-scooters, or walk to work. They aren't as inconvienienced as losing your job.
We have been extremely lucky so far that accidents like what happened before Christmas are not common, the type of tractor now in use is light-years ahead of what someone like me started out in 20 years ago, there needs to be a proper test and separate license for these machines.
It's madness that I need to get a license to pull a car trailer but anyone with a provisional license can hop into a tractor and drive down the road grossing 30 ton.
Just for some context that's 8 ton less than a basic artic and 5 ton more than a 3 axle Ridgid
Today’s 16 year old tractor drivers are next years lowered golf and bora shite box drivers - pumping out plumes of smoke and still not giving a fuck for the rules of the road or anyone else who uses it.
And the following year, their shitebox Golf will be on a trailer outside the church for their funeral mass, after the fatal crash, because he loved his oul car, did our Billy.
How can you expect them to act different when daily adult road users are just as bad for using their mobiles, speeding, just being a shite driver in general. The problem isn't the kids, it's the system
Ah lads, speed limits being cut to 80 and 30 all over the shop and 16yos are being allowed drive tractors and trailers wherever and whenever they want. What the actual fuck.
I grew up on a farm and was driving around the farm at 11 and on the road at 16. But it was small older tractors that would do 30kph max and werent much bigger than a van.
Todays tractors are enormous machines worth over 6 figures, there needs to be a change somewhere whether thats a test or increase in the age.
People forget to ask, where are the parents? Is the father and mother busy? I had little shitheads driving in front of me, going back and forth on the road to stop me passing, looking back and laughing.
It's more of an insurance problem. Few deaths is good, but huge levels of low contact collisions that gum up the roads and drive up insurance premiums.
Also the target for road deaths should always be 0. Accidents can and will happen, but they shouldn't be caused by something as avoidable as being on your phone.
“Parents, guardians, employers: this responsibility starts with you; if your young people are driving tractors on public roads, they must understand road safety, distraction risks, and the consequences of poor decisions.”
Surely the laws need to be changed so that we aren’t relying on good parenting skills to educate children about driving requirements on public roads.
16 is young but they’re legally allowed drive on the roads but obviously not while on their phones. Go stop a few more lads on e-scooters absolute liabilities
This is the grey area of tractors. Being 16 and driving a modern tractor that has the power to bulldoze anything in front of it, then they attach 20 tonne of stone in an enormous trailer, also without a trailer licence, they seems to skirt around this rule. The won't even know if they hit a person. Just because it's a tractor doesn't mean you can drive it on open roads towing. The law should specify use on the farm only until full licence is obtained.
a 10 year old can drive a tractor on private farm land. the exemption for tractors I assume dates back to the days when they were small vehicles only capable of slow speeds, and by extension wouldn't be driven any significant distance on the public road, not the behemoths they are now. It should just be scrapped.
I get farmers want to pass the skills and love of farming to their kids, but allowing untrained 16 year olds to drive around public roads is just symptomatic of the lax attitude to safety in the sector (by far the highest occupational death rate every year). You don't see builders getting their unlicensed 16 year olds to drive the dump truck over to the quarry.
I'd agree with most of that. It definitely needs rework to take into account the far larger size, weight and speed of modern tractors - but those kids aren't totally untrained as they frequently have the bones of a decades experience behind the wheel before they are old enough to take it onto the roads.
I know as I'd have been driving solo for almost a decade on private land before I was legally old enough to drive them on the roads if I had any need to (which I didn't). It's scary looking back at it now and at the ages and at kids I know of that age range, as you well know farms are f'king dangerous. That said, I was a better driver of all vehicles than my fully licensed mother. Which terrified me once I realised that aged ~12 years old.
"sure he's been driving that yoke around the farm since he was 6" isn't really the basis for regulating the use of heavy machinery. What other sector has literal children "helping out" in scenarios with dangerous equipment.
I'm with you on that, I'm amazed more children don't die on farms and that people are so surprised when they do. Still, I was only stating that they aren't necessarily untrained with the equipment they're using (even if they are young, stupid and unlicensed).
Just 2?
Tbf it's the only garda who pulls people over on the road, can't be everywhere at once
Remove the right of 16 year olds to drive them And make a test mandatory the fact you can just jump in and away you go at 16 is mad
I don't agree with removing the right but it should be the case where they have to do a test similar to the Ridgid or artic license
Neither of which you’re allowed sit the test for until you’re 21
Edit: sorry I was wrong. You’re not even allowed hold the learner permit for them until you’re 21.
Probably won't be a popular opinion here but if you raise the age you are going to have to make exceptions for working on a family farm and then it starts to get messy
There are plenty of things kids can do on farms without operating industrial machinery on public roads. This isn’t just about the safety of the kids driving the tractors (which the current rules are putting in active danger) but the safety of other people on the roads too. Letting them off to fuck around in tractors after answering 40 general knowledge questions is just asking for disaster. Whatever about a test to drive them on private land they should never be allowed on public roads.
You can drive both at 18.
How is a test going to stop them from using their phones while driving tractors exactly? They need more time to cop on before they're allowed drive them
Because age stops people from using their mobile phones when driving a car?
I never said that. I said it'll give them more time to get cop on
Sadly age has very little correlation with cop on.
Ah come off it, there’s eejits at every age, but teen years are the absolute apex of having no cop on.
Source: was pure eejit back then, slightly less so now
That will only be done with a decent Gardaí presence and because you are getting them to get a professional license higher penalties ie you get caught on the phone it's an instant suspension, should be the same for any professional drivers imo
That can only be done with good parenting. Guards are never going to have the present in rural Ireland to catch enough of them to act as a deterrent. Parents need to take responsibility and ban them from using the tractor if they're not acting dangerously.
I mean that should go without saying
Or any driver. Cars included.
I do think the penalty for phone use should be higher for the general public but professional drivers have to be held to a higher standard imo, maybe a longer suspension if you were to go down the road of an automatic suspension for everyone
As a former Hgv driver, i'd put them in the same bracket.
If the penalty for phone use is to take their employment away on the spot, then the minimum should be the same. They can get taxis, buses, trains, e-scooters, or walk to work. They aren't as inconvienienced as losing your job.
Yeah your right should be the same across the board I suppose the higher standard then is the fact a professional driver will loose their job
Maybe mandating a physical restrictor on the engine's power output would be the way to go? Like they do with motorbikes.
Not really something you can do to a vehicle that needs that power for pulling more than speed
So you think it's fine for inexperienced kids to drive tractors? That's weird.
No I would like to see those inexperienced kids get educated in how to drive those tractors
Why do we need a punishment for all because two people did something? Punish them and anyone else who’s caught.
See this every day, young lads in massive tractors with the phone in their hands
See this everyday. Lads in high powered German cars speeding, breaking red lights, all whilst on the phone
Those are bad too, difference is those people at lealst have to sit tests and get proper licensing before they can even do that
We have been extremely lucky so far that accidents like what happened before Christmas are not common, the type of tractor now in use is light-years ahead of what someone like me started out in 20 years ago, there needs to be a proper test and separate license for these machines.
It's madness that I need to get a license to pull a car trailer but anyone with a provisional license can hop into a tractor and drive down the road grossing 30 ton.
Just for some context that's 8 ton less than a basic artic and 5 ton more than a 3 axle Ridgid
Today’s 16 year old tractor drivers are next years lowered golf and bora shite box drivers - pumping out plumes of smoke and still not giving a fuck for the rules of the road or anyone else who uses it.
And the following year, their shitebox Golf will be on a trailer outside the church for their funeral mass, after the fatal crash, because he loved his oul car, did our Billy.
A great young lad, terrible loss to the community.
And behold there's a death of a young lad in a tractor a few weeks back and NOW they start doing something about it.
Don't worry, they'll stop doing anything about it again by the end of the month.
Hopefully this to little gob shites never do it again? But you only habe to be out and about during silage season to know the amount that are.
How can you expect them to act different when daily adult road users are just as bad for using their mobiles, speeding, just being a shite driver in general. The problem isn't the kids, it's the system
Ah lads, speed limits being cut to 80 and 30 all over the shop and 16yos are being allowed drive tractors and trailers wherever and whenever they want. What the actual fuck.
I grew up on a farm and was driving around the farm at 11 and on the road at 16. But it was small older tractors that would do 30kph max and werent much bigger than a van. Todays tractors are enormous machines worth over 6 figures, there needs to be a change somewhere whether thats a test or increase in the age.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
They NPA would charge another 5 euro for that
People forget to ask, where are the parents? Is the father and mother busy? I had little shitheads driving in front of me, going back and forth on the road to stop me passing, looking back and laughing.
I bet on Facebook you have the usual suspects defending them.
Don’t even need to go that far.
Check this bright thread.
wHy aRE tHeRE sO mANy RoAd DEatHs?!
There aren't that many, our roads are amongst the safest in the world.
It's more of an insurance problem. Few deaths is good, but huge levels of low contact collisions that gum up the roads and drive up insurance premiums.
Also the target for road deaths should always be 0. Accidents can and will happen, but they shouldn't be caused by something as avoidable as being on your phone.
“Parents, guardians, employers: this responsibility starts with you; if your young people are driving tractors on public roads, they must understand road safety, distraction risks, and the consequences of poor decisions.”
Surely the laws need to be changed so that we aren’t relying on good parenting skills to educate children about driving requirements on public roads.
Wow they caught some
Confiscate the tractors!
Dead right!
If cellphones were more common when Father Ted came out, this would have been something mentioned as happening on Craggy Island.
There'll be 0 consequences for them, their parents or the tractor owners. Culchies will be lining up to say it's grand sure.
Country gone to the dogs
[removed]
Wow. Definitely a story worthy of a national subreddit.
If you don’t like it then just down vote it and move on.
This isn't a national subreddit
It's the main subreddit for Ireland?
Very much is if you are a right minded person
16 is young but they’re legally allowed drive on the roads but obviously not while on their phones. Go stop a few more lads on e-scooters absolute liabilities
Legally allowed to use their phones while driving?
Ah you edited it as you realised you were wrong! Well done
Why?