Andrew Arbuckle: Road rage is a two-sided beast and all must compromise

I AM some ten feet off the ground and from high up in the cab of the combine I am driving I can see over the hedgerows and into my neighbours' fields.

I am travelling along a country road that used to be quiet but is now quite busy with traffic using it as a shortcut. It is a fine day and the forecast is good. Looking in the rear mirror, I see a number of cars behind the combine and I am sure they are also relishing the good weather and possibly even the lift in grain prices.

I am driving along this country road in my car and coming round a corner, I find I am in a queue of five or six cars in a crocodile line behind this lumbering combine that cannot even be doing 20 miles per hour. It is not possible to pass. I am already late for a meeting and this slow procession is just another addition to my already stressful life.

And that in summary is the tale of two friends who spoke to me last week with their contrasting experiences of agricultural vehicles on public highways. We are now in the peak season of aggravation between the two parties.

The fact that it is an annual conflict of priorities does not make the issue any less inflamed. There is also no doubt that there is more farm traffic on the roads. Big farms with smaller outlying fields means more road traffic; bigger yields means bigger tonnages being transported and bigger pieces of equipment push the boundaries of what is legal.

There have also been a few high-profile accidents between farm vehicles and other road users.

Nowadays tractors move much faster than they used to and this catches a few motorists out. Often too, in the glim of a harvest evening a poorly lit piece of machinery fails the essential "see and be seen" criteria.

So the issue widens out into a discussion involving police and agencies such as the Vehicle Operator Service Agency and the Health and Safety Executive.

So it was no surprise that an NFU Scotland organised meeting in Aberdeenshire last week brought out almost 200 farmers to hear the latest interpretation of traffic regulations. Mike Braithwaite, an agricultural consultant specialising in legislation dealing with farm vehicles, set a few thinking when he pointed out that the maximum speed for a tractor not fitted with anti-lock brakes now having independent suspension on all four wheels was 20 miles per hour.

That puts more than a question mark against most tractors with their modern day gear boxes providing road speeds of 25 to 30 miles per hour. But as one farmer pointed out, strict adherence to the limit would also raise the ire of motorists.

Perhaps the strongest message he gave to farmers was to ensure their lights and reflectors were both working and clean. Too often at the end of a long day ploughing or spreading slurry any lights can be spattered with muck and barely visible to other motorists, he warned.

There is no solution to the overall problem but what is needed is for the tractor/combine driver to think of the motorist and his/her priorities. And for the motorist to think about the tractor/combine driver and the harvest pressures in which they are working. I state that optimistically but without a great deal of belief it will happen.