Thread: Road Rules, Farmers targeted... again.

Will there be enough pilots to go around?

Hey, wasn't BMKal a pilot at one time? More work for him.

As if the farmers haven't got enough to put up with now. Revenue raising is all that it is.

It's "Jobs and Growth" they've trained al the baristas we need and same with traffic lollipop operators. The Government's next growth industry is harvester pilots.

We've got to have new industries to employ people now that mine diggers and dump trucks are all robots and we don't manufacture anything anymore so any non productive job that doesn't cost the Guvment is O.K. by them.

I have a good mate that is a primary producer and come across plenty of farmers moving their gear from paddock to paddock....

and sometime you come around a bend @ $1.10 and go holly ****...but they are farmers and I’m more than happy to hit the picks and have the odd fright to wake me up, give them space and time than I’m on my way.

In saying that have a look at all the threads on here about caravaners, bike riders, truckies, pedestrians wearing earphones etc etc annoying the impatient motorist......and than throw in insurance, liability etc etc it was only time until farmer fell into the cross hairs.

If you are driving through the Bush at harvest or seeding time you expect to be confronted with farm machinery on the road from time to time because that's just the way it is.
These Blokes are just trying to make a living and the reality of it is that it is necessary to move from paddock to paddock to put a crop in or take it off and in many cases it requires using the roads that split the property.
In 99% of cases there is already a vehicle in front and behind the machinery to warn other road users in these moves and having to have an accredited pilot to do these moves is simply ridicules as you would have to have one of these pilots on stand by 24/7 because there is No way that these machinery moves can be predicted accurately.

4 thoughts

- we should give farmers a break
- its a big vehicle and they shouldn't get special concessions
- it's more or less unenforceable.
- would the cost be a tax write off?

Originally Posted by Eevo

4 thoughts

- we should give farmers a break
- its a big vehicle and they shouldn't get special concessions
- it's more or less unenforceable.
- would the cost be a tax write off?

Rural dwellers for many years have been saddled with rules designed for cities. A lot of these are widely ignored because they are largely unenforceable, but occasionally a farmer is fined for breaching one. I am reminded of a near neighbour of mine who was moving his ute and trailer from one paddock to another, about 20m between gates, not even on the bitumen or the road embankment. Pulled up by a passing policeman, and ended up being fined for failing to carry his licence. The driver was somewhat elated by the fact that, obsessed with the lack of a licence, the plodder failed to notice the trailer was unregistered.

The cost would certainly be a tax writeoff, but bear in mind that to do this you actually have to have a taxable income - and probably 50% of farmers, and an even higher proportion of harvest contractors operate in the red for more years than they make a profit.

Its a problem with everybody being in a hurry these days,,, to busy and to selfish, not wanting to take responsibility to help others at all, to take a little time out to let the big guns through.

I wonder how it would work for those that have multiple headers working one farm,,,
I reckon one of the best sights I've ever seen was up near Balranald stopping to let 5/6 of these units go past with a few trucks and utes with them,, and then to top it off, two days later we watched the same guys running in sequenced line through the paddock,,, awesome stuff.