Fed up of kids driving tractors whilst on their phones on public highways.

Agreed. I have never understood this.

Well... ya gotta get out of the way for a tractor really and they know that. I spose they don't usually go that far and usually on what were.... quiet country roads. It is too many cars getting in their way maybe. Also they are probably filming for their farming influencer page!!

Blimey, YANBU! I had no idea that was going on. 16 seems way too young to be in charge of such a large vehicle.

Where is this? I live in a rural place and have never seen a 16 year old driving a tractor down a public road.

I live in a rural place and its well known! Bloody scary. They fly up and down. No sense of anything. Really young lads. There are one or 2 girls but haven't noticed them driving with the same reckless abandon.

Very prevalent in the farming I live and we are talking major a roads and not just track between fields and farmhouses.

It’s grown adults too, I was behind a van on a 70mph road, he was all over the place with his indicators still on. As we passed (I was a passenger) he was playing with his phone! When will people put their bloody phones down and concentrate on driving. I see so much poor driving from all ages.

While I don’t disagree that you often see these boys (very young men? that in-between age!) oh their phones whilst driving, I think part of it is that you can see much more clearly that they are compared to a car. They’re essentially sat in a big glass box. I think it’s an issue across the board, rather than a specific tractor issue, personally. There are certain caveats to 16 year olds and the loads they can move etc but very hard to keep tabs on, it’s very hard to accurately gauge age from a glance at a cab.

The rules around Tractors and MOTs are frightening.. as they often don’t need one.

I understand why this would be if that vehicle was just being used on the farm, however that’s not the case. We had a large “recycling company” nearby that had a fleet of around 20 tractors, in various states of disrepair, that used to whizz up and down the A & B roads, transporting really heavy trailers.

,.. now imagine a 16 year old behind the wheel,

Plus the rubbish they throw out when driving too

I’ve seen young lads driving tractors far too quickly along relatively narrow roads as well. They seem to ignore the fact that there are other road users as well. It’s downright dangerous. Slowing down a bit to give other road users a chance to move across for them should be common sense, rather than just barging through.

Yep, my DD goes to a rural school and a number of the boys drive tractors. Including to and from school. Many have grown up around tractors and have been driving them on private land since 12/13. This makes them feel invincible. I’m always very wary of tractors.

Our friends own two farms 30 miles apart and regularly drive tractors between them, and that's definitely not all on quiet country roads! Tractors now are huge, heavy, and far faster than they used to be. I don't know what the law is, but it definitely sounds like it needs updating.

They drive well over the speed limit through our village, terrifying.

The issue in most of these posts is using mobile phones while driving, not in 16 year olds driving tractors. If the phone law was enforced, you'd solve a lot of the complaints.

Not on the road but some of my friends at school were allowed to drive the tractors from 12/13 on the farms near me growing up, was years ago. Nobody should be in charge of any vehicle at any age looking at a phone.

I haven’t noticed them near me on phones, but what I have noticed is that younger tractor drivers tend to be less courteous to other road users. They don’t acknowledge other drivers who have stopped in the opposite direction to allow them to make a wide turn and they’re quite happy to have an enormous queue behind them rather than pulling in where they can to let others drivers pass. Meanwhile, their Dads do both of those.

It can't be legal for them to be on their phones whilst driving?????

I thought there was a crisis in farm worker recruitment, definitely not that many Young people are going into agricultural work.

I lived in rural Norfolk 19 years, still travel there for leisure, can't remember seeing any apparent 16yos in charge of tractors, or even anyone on their phone while in charge of a sprayer, combine, tractor, other harvester, forklift...

They aren’t always in agriculture.. we get them round here from Scrapyards, Recycling Centres, Skip Hires etc etc. They use the Tractor to avoid MOTs, and I think there are also fuel and tax benefits.

YANBU!! I'm always amazed at how simple it is to be able to drive a tractor on the roads. I don't think they even have to pass the driving theory test - just answer some road sign and basic highway code questions during the practical test.

Saying that, I refuse to buy ice cream from our local ice cream van as I frequently see him on his phone whilst driving up and down in his ice cream van, which is surely the epitome of dumb??

And don't get me started on the 20 mph limits and the increase in drivers on their phone with the lower speed limit.

Yes, it’s stupid, but you know farmers first. 🙄 There is definitely a degree of entitlement amongst some people. Dd keeps saying that she’s going to drive the tractor at 16 and I keep reminding her that she absolutely is not. She can drive it around the blooming fields but there is no way she is going to drive it on the road.

In Sweden, 15 year olds are allowed to drive speed restricted ‘tractor cars’. I believe that any car can be modified to accommodate the laws. Similarly to tractors, this was a safer practice when the roads were less busy.

I see many people of all ages on their phones while they’re meant to be driving but the bigger the vehicle the bigger the damage potential when things go wrong!